VEGETABLE BUTTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1970, 22 August 1889, Page 32

VEGETABLE BUTTER.

Butter is the name given, in a chemical sense, to all oleaginous substances which remain solid at a temperature of 71deg to 86deg Fahrenheit. For popular purposes it is a misnomer, as all the fatty matters included in the term could hardly be used by modern housewives even for culinary purposes. The plants yielding the butter, although not confined to one country, nor even to one natural order, are nevertheless more abundant in Western Africa and India than in other parts of the world, and are mostly members of the order Sapotaceaa. The Bassia Parkii, a plant indigenous to West Africa, and which derives its specific name from the renowned African traveller, Mungo Park, is particularly rich in the product, and is a source of great utility and profit to the natives. The fruit itself when ripe is eaten by them, and is said by travellers who have tasted it to be not unpleasant. It is about the size of a large prune, rather sour, but otherwise of an excellent flavour. The butter is obtained from the seeds'. The following is the manner in which the fruit is collected and treated. The crop commences at the end of May and finishes during: the last days of September. The women and* children go each day into the forests, especially after storms and tornadoes, and fetcft large baskets or calabashes to the village filled with fruit which the wind has brought down. They throw them into cylindrical holes that are found here and there in the Bambarra villages even in the middle of th© roads. Whilst in these holes the fruits lose their flesh, which rots off j they are left there during several months, sometimes for the whole of the winter. The nuts are then placed in a kind of vertical oven ; a fire is kept up under th,em, and this causes them to lose their moisture. As soon as they are dried the shells are broken, and the white kernel is peeled, and then ground and made into a homogeneous mass. This ;is then placed in water which is kept boiling. The fatty matter floats to the top, and the dirt goes to the bottom. The butter is then pub into a jar filled with cold water and beaten clear. Whilst in this jar it absorbs a certain amount o£ water, and to get rid of this it is taken out and beaten again. By this primitive process only about 10 or 12 per cent, of the butter can be saved. What the natives would do without it it is hard to conceive. It practically serves them as food, medicine, and raiment (in the sense that they oil their skins with it). They eat it in the same way as we do ordinary butter, and mixed with an animal fat it is considered a panacea against all evils and diseases. It is also employed- for lighting purposes, and the smoke which is produced by its combustion is said to be very efficacious in the cure of snake bites. It is also largely used for soap making ; for this latter purpose it has more than once been introduced to European manufacturers, but up to the present has never been utilised on an extensive spale. No doubt as the resources of the country are further developed and intercommunication between the inland and the coast becomes more facilitated, we shall find this as well as other products equally valuable make their way to this market. The Indian representative of the family, the Bassia latifolia, is very abundant in all parts of India, and the butter expressed from the seed is used in much the same way by the native Indians as that of the Bassia Parkii is By the West Africans, whilst the fruit in many parts form a staple article of food. Every part of the tree, in fact, is of use; the timber being hard and' strong, close and even-grained, is used for the wheels of carriages, railway sleepers, &c. The flowers when dried have somewhat the odour and appearance of sultana raisins. They are produced in enormous quantities in March and April, after the old leaves bave fallen and before the new leaves have appeared ; the crop rarely fails. The fleshy flowers fall off and cover the ground beneath the trees, and are gathered eagerly by the natives every morning during the flowering season. A single tree yields from 2001b to 4001b weight of flowers. They are very rich in sugar, and yield when fermented a large quantity of spirit, as much as 6 - 16 gallons of proof spirits per hundredweight having been obtained from them. The spirit is manufactured to a great extent in India, and it is said that the Government receive quite a large amount for duty on the spirits distilled. The flowers hare from time to time been placed before important distillers in England ; but owing to a peculiar flavour being developed — caused, it is thought, by the persistent stamens, which it is difficult to remove from the flowers — the spirit distilled has never been brought into consumption in the British market. A TINY CIRCUS The readers of Tit-Bits may be interested in learning something about the smallest circus in the world, in which the actors were nothing but the ordinary every-day flea. The flea circus here described the Jwriter saw exhibited in New York some time ago ; it was composed of about 200 of the most intelligent and distinguished fleas that could be collected. One of the first lessons taught the flea is to control its jumping powers, for if its great leaps should be taken in the middle of a performance there would be a sudden end to the circus. To insure against such a misfortune the student flea is first placed in a glass phial and encouraged to jump as much as 'possible. Every leap here made brings the polished head of the flea against the glass, hurling the insect back, and throwing it this way and that, until, after a long and sorry experience, and perhaps many headaches, it makes up its mind never to unfold its legs suddenly again. When it has proved this by refusing to jump in the open air, the first important lesson is complete, and it joins the troupe, and is daily harnessed and trained, until, finally, it is pronounced ready to go on the stage or in the ring. The famous flea circus was placed on a small table or stand resembling in size and shape a common dinner plate. A rim several

inches high surrounding the outer edge, and around this laised edge stood a number of small wooden boxes— the houses of the performers and the stables for their carriages, &c. The director of the performance, a man, had a large magnifying glass in his hand, as, indeed, had the rest of the spectators. At the word of command from the director, the tiny trap-door of one of. the houses sprang open, and a number of fleas' filed out. They passed round the circle in a dignified manner, appearing through the magnifier about as large as wasps or bees. Each fleahad a gold cord round its waist, and this was the grand procession usually seen at a circus. Five fleas, each adorned with different colours, stepped from another of the Bmall houses, and, after tumbling about here and there, started on a rush round the cirole. When half the course had been covered, they commenced to move in regular order, and strove fairly for the goal. In another moment a large flea would have won the race had not two laggards, almost at the last instant, taken desperate leaps and landed far beyond the winning post. Forthwith they were taken up in pincers by the director and placed in solitary confinement in the glass, where it wa3 supposed they had learned not to jump. A dance was next announced, and at the signal of the manager there came tumbling out of the third house probably the most ludicrous band of performers ever seeD. Eaoh dancer was in full regalia, its dress of tissue being ornamented with purple, gold, and red. The magnifier was placed in position; the spectator looked through it, and the performance began — a mixture of the Highland fling, the sailor's hornpipe, and a regular breakdown. The little creatures bobbed up and down, now on one claw, now on all six, hopping, bowing, and scraping, moving forward and back, and bumping against one another, until they seemed utterly exhausted. Next came a hurdle race. Huidles of thin silver wire were arranged, over which two fleas were supposed, to leap. One, however, was very lazy or very cunning, as he won the race by crawling under the last wire. A moment later out came a number of fleas all harnessed with gold wire trappings, and several tiny vehicles were taken out of the stables. There was a tally-ho coach smaller than the smallest flea, an Esquimaux sledge about a quarter of an inch long, and a trotting sulky evidently made from hair or bristles, and other gorgeous equipages. The tally-ho team was harnessed to the coach and four phlegmatic fleas were placed on the top, while two more took their places inside. The other vehicles were each furnished with a steed and rider or driver, and eventually were drawn up side by side for the race. At the word of command they started off pell-mell, and such a race was never seen before. The horses all ran away, the riders were thrown in every direction, and would surely have come off with broken heads if they had been anything else but fleas. The tally-ho won the race, making the circuit on its side, without any passengers on board. ! The last act was the best. The manager ! arranged the stage by placing two fine pins about 4in apart, connecting them with a fine silver wire, and announced the worldrenowned rope-walker. The tiny Blondin was then brought out in a small cut-glass bottle. His only raiment was a little jacket of tissue paper. When fished out with the tiny pincers and placed upon the head of one of the pins, he boldly started out upon the wire, over which his little clawed toes seemed to fit. In the middle he balanced up and down, and stood upon one leg, and then moved on, crossing in safety, thus ending the circus, at least, for that ocoasion.