The finest and lightest skins are usually reserved for making into yellow, green, or pale blue leather, and the rest are converted into red, black, dark blue or dark yellow kinds. The red dye is obtained from the stalks of a species of Sorghum,[13] which is grown for this purpose, and to which the Haussas give the name of “Karandeffi” or “Karantudi.” The dried stalks are pounded up and placed in a calabash, to which a solution of “potash” is added. A deep crimson liquid results, and in this the skin is steeped until a sufficiency has been absorbed by it to render it permanently deep red in colour. A pale yellow colour is imparted to the skin by an infusion made from the root of a kind of turmeric, which is pounded up for the purpose. A dark yellow is obtained from the root of a tree called by the Yorubas “Agbesi.” A black pigment is prepared from a mixture of honey and blacksmith’s slag; blue from _Lonchocarpus cyanescens_, one of the indigo producers; green or pale blue-green from brass filings mixed with lime juice, common salt, and other ingredients. More recently green aniline dye has been imported into the country, and has almost superseded the use of brass filings in all the large leather-producing districts. =FIBRES.=—Owing to the demand for ropes among the cattle-keepers of the northern districts and the canoemen of the Niger and Benue valleys, it is not surprising to find that the wild fibres are considered insufficient to supply so great a necessity, and that in consequence a selected species is extensively cultivated and prepared for sale in the markets. “Rama” or “Ramo” is the name which is applied to such a plant in the Haussa- and Yoruba-speaking countries respectively, but although used exclusively for fibre made from plants belonging to the genus Hibiscus, different species are indicated in various districts. The plant to which the name “Rama” is given in Ilorin, Nupe, Kontagora, Kano, and Zaria, is apparently the same as that generally termed “Farin (white) Rama” in Bauchi and Muri, and has been recognised as _Hibiscus lunariifolius_; that called “Rama” in the northern territories of the Gold Coast is said to belong to two species allied to _H. Sabdariffa_, and that grown by the Yoruba people of the western province of Southern Nigeria, and called by them “Ramo,” has been identified as _H. guineensis_. In the present instance only _H. lunariifolius_ is referred to, since this is the species cultivated throughout the country.