France and 84·80 76·00 59-10 79·34 48·60 36·58 20·35 French Possessions Holland 3·20 9·00 6·03 — — 4·20 — Germany — 3·64 24·56 6·80 — — — Denmark — — — 1·99 7·68 5·63 — Spain — — — ·35 4·24 — — Other countries 5·70 2·36 3·59 1·60 0·03 0·03 0·09 ----------------------------------------- 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 ----------------------------------------- From the above it will be noted that Germany began to appear in the market in 1912, and, in 1913, had taken nearly one-quarter of the output. This is probably accounted for by the rapid growth of the vegetable oil industry in Germany and the attempt on the part of Hamburg crushers to capture the Gambia trade from Marseilles. It will be seen that a proportionate decrease occurred in exports to French ports coincident with the increased shipments to German ports. The European war put Germany out of the market, and in 1914 France took nearly her normal share. In 1915 and 1916, however, Great Britain felt the lack of imported vegetable oils to such an extent that factories for their extraction sprang up in the country; thus it is seen that in 1915 Great Britain took nearly 40 per cent. against France’s 48½ per cent., and in 1916, Great Britain, for the first time in the last fifty years, took a larger portion of the Gambian groundnut crop than France. [Illustration: =GAMBIA & SIERRA LEONE= _Stanford’s Geogl. Estabt., London._] =SIERRA LEONE= =INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.= =Geographical Position.=—The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone are bounded upon the north and west by French Guinea, and upon the east by Liberia. The Colony is confined to the hill country of the Sierra Leone Peninsula and Sherbro Island; the remainder being Protectorate. =Area and Population.=—The area of the country according to the Blue Book of 1911 is 31,000 sq. miles. The greater part is undulating, well watered and fairly fertile, traversed by short ranges of mountains, mostly running north and south. The population of the Colony, by the census taken in 1911, was 75,572, and of the Protectorate 1,327,560. =Administrative Divisions.=—The country is divided into seven administrative districts, two of which are in the Colony and five in the Protectorate. The latter have been formed primarily in accordance with tribal settlements, due to the expediency of recognising in each the native customary law; the exception to this is the Railway district, in which other considerations of greater importance are involved.