the name of a tree, from the fruit of which the Negroes, in the interior parts of Africa between the tropics, prepare a kind of vegetable butter. These trees 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 Shea. The tree itself very much resembles the American oak; and the fruit, from the kernel of which being 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, Mr Park says, to his palate, of a richer flavour than the best butter which he ever tasted, made from cows milk. The growth and preparation of this commodity, seem to be among the first objects of African industry in this and the neighbouring states; and it constitutes a main article of their inland commerce. In some places they dry the fruit in kilns, containing each about half a cart load of fruit, under which is kept up a clear wood fire. Our author, who saw the fruit in one of these kilns, was informed, that in three days the fruit would would be ready for pounding and boiling; and that the butter thus manufactured, is preferable to that which is prepared from fruit dried in the sun; especially in the rainy season, when the process by infusion is always tedious, and oftentimes ineffectual. Might it not be worth while, if practicable, to cultivate Shea-trees in some of our West India islands?