In addition to the local use of the oil for maladies for which balsam of copaiba is generally employed, the rubber makers of Ilorin and Nupe add it to the latex of Landolphia florida or L. Thompsonii to make paste rubber. The two liquids are boiled together for some time, until the mixture attains a consistency of birdlime. The dried resin is here used for torches, and in the Egyptian Sudan for incense.
KOLA.—Although a large quantity of kola nuts is annually imported from Lagos and the Gold Coast, such a great demand exists that the price of kola in Kano and Zaria is very high. The kola tree is seldom seen in any part of the country except on the west bank of the Kaduna river, where the famous plantations of the Emir of Bida are situated. The kola nuts produced from these plantations are said to be more appreciated than any other, and, in order that the variety might not be grown elsewhere, stringent measures are said to have been enforced by the Emir, and the nuts were always exported to the north, where it was impossible to grow the tree, and where a very remunerative price was obtainable. This particular kind of kola nut is referred to as “Laboji,” and is said to be white.
The cultivation of kola could be undertaken in the Kabba and Bassa Provinces, especially in the moist valleys protected from severe winds by high plateaux, such as are commonly found in these localities.
In the export table of 1907 a small quantity of kola is shown, but this probably represents the re-export of produce from the south.
COTTON SEED.—The Lokoja Ginnery has exported a small quantity of cotton seed each year, but the trade is not a lucrative one, and the larger part of the cotton seed which is turned out of the ginnery is valueless for shipment.
FOOD CROPS.—The products which have been referred to above are those which have hitherto been exported from the country, but by far the most important agricultural products are those upon which the population itself subsists, and in relation to which the exported products are merely in the position of a surplus.
Before referring to the products regularly cultivated for food, it is necessary to mention that the seasons, which in the temperate zones are closely associated with a rise and fall in the temperature and its effect upon vegetation, are in West Africa determined to a much greater degree by the advent and cessation of the rainy period. The year is therefore divided into two seasons, roughly described as (1) that in which the conditions are hot and dry, and (2) that in which they are cooler and wet. The vegetation is so directly dependent upon the timely appearance of the rainy season and its normal distribution, that a failure of these conditions, even in a comparatively small degree, may have serious consequences and perhaps produce famine. In no part of British West Africa is a shortage or irregularity of the rainfall so severely felt, nor does it affect such a large number of people, as in the northern districts.
A table is given below showing the distribution of rain in Zaria for five years, and of that in Kano for three years. In each of these it will be seen that the fall in the year 1907 was far below the average, and that during the most important months for the growth of the staple grain crops—July, August, and September—there was a severe shortage of rainfall. The effect of this in Kano was to produce a condition of famine, which lasted for about six weeks. In a congested locality, such as exists in the vicinity of the town of Kano, the difficulty of importing sufficiently large supplies to afford relief at such a period was great, on account of lack of transport. The chief crop in this year, namely Guinea corn, was an almost complete failure in many places, but the millet
Table showing the Rainfall at Zaria for Five Years (1905 to 1909)
| Month. | 1905. | 1906. | 1907. | 1908. | 1909. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | nil | nil | nil | nil | nil |
| February | nil | nil | nil | nil | ·36 |
| March | nil | nil | nil | ·09 | nil |
| April | ·76 | ·85 | 2·20 | 1·84 | 3·56 |
| May | 5·90 | 9·50 | 3·69 | 1·91 | 5·79 |
| June | 7·24 | 5·95 | 7·05 | 6·94 | 6·51 |
| July | 7·19 | 14·49 | 3·75 | 7·42 | 13·11 |
| August | 15·04 | 16·39 | 4·46 | 14·36 | 16·62 |
| September | 13·28 | 9·90 | 6·33 | 12·08 | 6·61 |
| October | 1·40 | 3·93 | 2·32 | ·84 | 1·74 |
| November | nil | ·04 | nil | nil | nil |
| December | nil | nil | nil | nil | 1·50 |
| Totals | 50·81 | 61·05 | 29·80 | 45·48 | 55·80 |