ECONOMICAL USES of the OIL, or ILLEEPEI TREE, Bassia longifolia.

BY THE REVEREND DOCTOR JOHN.

1st. The oil, pressed from the ripe fruit, is used as a common lamp oil, by those who cannot afford to buy the oil of the coco-nut. It is thicker, burns longer, but dimmer, smoaks a little, and gives some disagreeable smell.

2d. It is a principal ingredient in making the country soap, and, therefore, often bears the same price with the oil of the coco-nut.

3d. It is, to the common people, a substitute for ghee, and coco-nut oil, in their curries and other dishes. They make cakes of it, and many of the poor get their livelihood by selling these sweet oil cakes.

4th. It is used to heal different eruptions, such as the itch, &c.

5th. The cake (or Sakey) is used for washing the head; and is carried, as a petty article of trade, to those countries, where these trees are not found.

6th. The flowers, which fall in May, are gathered by the common people, dried in the sun, roasted, and eaten, as good food. They are also bruised, and boiled to a jelly, and made into small

balls, which they sell or exchange, for fish, rice, and various sorts of small grain.

7th. The ripe fruit, as well as the unripe, is eaten by the poor, as other fruits. Of the unripe, the skin is taken off, and after throwing away the unripe kernel, boiled to a jelly, and eaten with salt and Capsicum.

8th. The leaves are boiled with water, and given as a medicine, in several diseases, both to men, and to cattle.

9th. The milk of the green fruit, and of the tender bark, is also administered as a medicine.

10th. The bark is used as a remedy for the

itch.

11th. The wood is as hard, and durable, as teak wood, but not so easily wrought, nor is it procurable of such a length for beams, and planks, as the former; except in clay ground, where the tree grows to a considerable height; but, in such a soil, it produces fewer branches, and is less fruitful, than in a sandy, or mixed soil, which is the best suited for it. In a sandy soil, the branches shoot out nearer to the ground, and to a greater circumference, and yield more fruit. These trees require but little attention; beyond watering them during the first two or three years, in the dry season. Being of so great use, we have here whole groves of them, on high, and sandy grounds, where no other fruit trees will grow.

12th. We may add, that the owls, squirrels, lizards, dogs and jackals, take a share of the

flowers; but the vulgar belief is, that the latter, especially in the time of blossom, are apt to grow mad, by too much feeding on them.

Bassia obovata, FORSTER'S Prod. No. 200: a native of the Isle of Tanna, in the South Sea. Of this species, I possess no other account than the definition, which corresponds with the habit of the genus. If FORSTER has left us no account of the uses of the tree, it may be worth while to make inquiry, when an opportunity offers.

PARK's Shea, or butter tree of Africa, we have. reason, from his description, and figure, as well as from analogy, to suppose a species of this same genus. At page 352 (of his travels in the interior of Africa) he says, "The appearance of the fruit evidently places the Shea tree in the natural order of Sapota, (to which Bassia belongs,) and it has some resemblance to the Madhuca tree (Bassia latifolia), described by Lieutenant CHARLES HAMILTON, in the Asiatic Researches, Volume I, page 300.

"The people were every where employed in collecting the fruit of the Shea trees, from which they prepare a vegetable butter, mentioned in the former part of this work. These trees grow in great abundance all over this part of Bambarra.

* This commodity, Shea toulou, which, literally translated, signifies Tree-butter, is extracted, by means of boiling water, from the kernel of the nut, has the consistence and appearance of butter; and is in truth an admirable substitute for it. It forms an important article in the food of the natives, and serves also for every domestic purpose in which oil would otherwise be used. The demand for it is therefore great. PARK's Travels in Africa. Page 26..

They are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods; and in clearing woodland for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the Shea. The tree itself, very much resembles the American oak, and the fruit, from the kernel of which, first dried in the sun, the butter is prepared, by boiling the kernel in water, has somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind; and the butter produced from it, besides the advantage of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, firmer, and to my palate, of a richer flavour, than the best butter I ever tasted made of cows milk. The growth and preparation of this commodity, seem to be amongst the first objects of African industry, in this and the neighbouring states; and it constitutes a main article of their inland commerce." PARK's Travels in Africa, page 202-3.

In the following account of the Bassia Butyra cea, by Mr. GOTT, we find the people of Almorah eat the dregs, left after the finer parts have been extracted; consequently there can be little doubt of the wholesomeness of the pure vegetable butter itself. The thick oil of Bassia latifolia, and longi folia, the natives of various parts of India, either use alone, or mixed with ghee (clarified butter),

in their diet.

On Captain HARDWICKE's departure for Eng land, in the beginning of 1803, he gave me a small quantity of the above-mentioned substance, observing, that the only account he could give me of it was, that it was reported to him to be a vegetable product from Almorah, or its neighbour hood, where it is called Fulwah, or Phulwarah. In consequence of this information, I applied to

Mr. GOTT, (who is stationed in the vicinity of that country,) to make the necessary inquiries; and from him I procured an abundance of well preserved specimens, at various times, in leaf, flower, and fruit. From these, and that gentleman's account of the tree, and its product, the foregoing description, and the annexed figures, were taken.

The same sample, which I got from Captain HARDWICKE, in January 1803, I have still by me. It remains perfectly sweet, both in taste and smell. Its flavour is that of cloves; having, I presume, been perfumed with that spice, previously to its falling into his hands, a practice mentioned in the following narrative. At this instant the thermometer is at ninety-five, and for these six weeks, it has rarely been below ninety, and has often risen to one hundred, or more, yet it continues about as firm as butter is in England during winter.

Mr. GOTT's account of the tree, and its product, is as follows:

The tree producing a fat-like substance, known in this country by the name of Phulwah, is a native of the Almorah hills, and known there by the same name. The tree is scarce, grows on a strong soil, on the declivities of the southern aspects of the hills below Almorah, generally attaining the height, when full grown, of fifty feet, with a circumference of six. The bark, of such specimens as I have been able to obtain, is inclined to smoothness, and speckled; it flowers in January, and the seed is perfect about August, at which time the natives collect them, for the purpose of extracting the above substance. On opening