The oil palm has been the most important source of wealth Liberia has. The tree produces great quantities of nuts, growing in large clusters, from which an oil is easily extracted, which finds enormous use in soap- and candle-making. This oil is derived from the stringy, fleshy coating of the nut; the nuts are thrown into pits dug in the ground, where they are allowed to ferment for some time; the mass of fermented nuts is then squeezed in a sort of press run by hand, and the oil is extracted. This is the primitive, native style of production. The oil may also be produced by boiling and pounding the nuts and then stone-boiling the mass in wooden troughs, the oil being skimmed off from the surface of the water. In Liberia palm oil is chiefly produced in the counties of Bassa and Sinoe. Liberian oil is not the best quality on the market, as carelessness in preparation leaves considerable dirt and impurities in it; it has, however, brought good prices--up to £24.10.0 a ton. Inside the palm nut is a hard kernel which remains after the oil has been extracted; this kernel at first was wasted; to-day it is known to yield a finer oil than the pulp; the idea of exporting palm nut kernels originated with a Liberian, and the first shipment was made in 1850; to-day there is a large demand for palm kernels which sell at prices ranging from $60 to $68 per ton, the oil derived from them selling at $130 to $133 per ton. Second, certainly, in importance, among the raw products exported from Liberia is piassava; it is the fiber of a palm--_raphia vinifera_. Large use is made of this extremely resistant fiber for brooms and brushes for street sweeping and the like; its use, too, was suggested by a Liberian in 1889; it was first exported in 1890 and for a time brought the astonishingly high price of from $300 to $350 per ton; as the fiber was easy to prepare and the trees were plentiful, a rapid development took place; Liberia was for a long time the only source of supply; carelessness ensued in the preparation of the fiber, the demand lessened and the price dropped; it went down to £10 per ton; at present the price is somewhat better and is stationary at £20. Sir Harry Johnston, from whom these details are borrowed, says that it is difficult to judge the quality of raphia, that it shrinks in weight, and that trade in it is somewhat speculative and uncertain; still, piassava fiber occupies an important position in the Liberian trade to-day.