Part 2 — NIGERIA-NORTHERN PROVINCES (continued 2)
Reading edition
A second quality of silk is that called “Tsamian doka,” and is obtained from the cocoon masses produced by the larvæ of Anaphe Moloneyi, which are found in the same locality, feeding upon the “Bokin doka” tree, which has been determined to be a species of Macrolobium. Several hundred worms congregate together and form a solid mass of pale brown tubular cocoons upon the bark of the tree, covering the outer surface with a whitish envelope of silk. This silk is treated in the same manner as the other, but, after boiling and washing, does not become white. Two other species, which are used for the same purpose, are called “Tsamian fakali” and “Tsamian bauri,” and feed on another species of Macrolobium and a Ficus respectively. They produce inferior kinds of silk.
Much interest is attached to these Anaphe silks, which, in recent years, have been developed in the German Colonies of East Africa, especially, on a commercial scale. It is reported that, just previous to the declaration of war, German agents in British West Africa made endeavours to obtain as much of the wild silk as possible from Nigeria. Plantations of a species of Bridelia, the common food plant of Anaphe infracta, were made in the late German Colonies, and special machinery was in use there for the production of a commercial silk.
The following figures give the values of the chief exported products from Nigeria as a whole, from 1913 to 1919:—
1913 1914 1915 1916
£ £ £ £
Palm kernels 3,109,818 2,541,150 1,692,712 1,739,706
Palm oil 1,854,384 1,571,691 1,462,162 1,402,799
Cocoa 157,480 171,751 313,946 393,101
Cotton lint 159,223 150,791 56,351 243,949
Mahogany and timber 106,050 86,522 54,559 49,361
Groundnuts 174,716 179,219 72,177 473,653
Hides and skins 197,214 505,785 302,420 538,917
Shea products 74,471 52,843 69,823 32,529
Rubber — 38,854 38,113 34,192
Benniseed — — 5,225 16,523
Continued: 1917 1918 1919
£ £ £
Palm kernels 2,581,702 3,226,306 4,947,995
Palm oil 1,882,997 2,610,448 4,245,893
Cocoa 499,004 235,870 1,067,675
Cotton lint 234,338 97,399 484,744
Mahogany and timber 21,282 68,480 116,820
Groundnuts 710,308 920,137 698,702
Hides and skins 198,332 293,019 1,262,142
Shea products 40,189 4,884 37,222
Rubber 32,350 19,667 43,903
Benniseed 2,876 696 53,541