B. lattfolia, the Mahwa, 3Iadhaca, or 3Iadhooka-Treo, has oblong leaves, and a corolla with a very protuberant tube. It is a native of the mountainous parte of the Circars and of Bengal, where it forms a middling-sized tree. Its wood is hard and strong, and proper for the naves of wheels ; its flowers are eaten raw by the natives and by jackals, and they yield by distillation a strong intoxicating spirit. From their seeds a considerable quantity of greenish-yellow oil is obtained, which is found useful for the supply of lamps ; it is, however, inferior to that of the last species. It is curious that this oil stains linen or woollen cloth as animal oil does, while the fatty substance of the B. butyracea possesses no such property, but when rubbed on cloth leaves no trace behind.
A fourth species has been named B. Parka and is believed to be the Shea-Tree, or African Butter-Plant, which is so very Important an article of African internal commerce ; and which it would apparently be extremely desirable to introduce into the West Indies and Bengal, as a new source of internal wealth. This is the plant which is frequently spoken of by Park in his ' Travels in Africa' : " The people were everywhere 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. They are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods ; and in clearing wood land for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the ahea. 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 beet butter I ever tasted made of cow's 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." Duncan has also given an account of this tree, and expressed his conviction that it might become an important article of commerce between Europe and Africa, as it is available for all the uses for which the hard oils are used in the arts and manufactures.