GUMS FUOM SENEGAL. 51 



productive, an cast wind always augmenting it, up to June and July. 

 The bark of the Gum-trees, which has been saturated with water and 

 rain, dries, under the influence of the burning winds from the Desert ; 

 it furrows and cracks, and exudes the drops of gummy fluid, which ag- 

 glutinate in the form of balls. The hotter and higher are the winds 

 . (hindering agriculture), the larger is the product of Gum, and rarely 

 do two unfavourable seasons occur successively. The slaves who col- 

 lect the Gum, live exclusively upon it, except that quite recently the 

 Arabs have raised some millet for their food in addition. The poor 

 creatures pick it carefully from the bark as fast as it appears, lest any 

 extraneous substance should mix with it ; and therefore the best Senegal 

 Gum is generally offered for sale in small drops. Each slave sallies 

 out early in the morning, equipped with a leathern bag, which they 

 call a Toulon or Tonron, and carrying a staff, tipped with a kind of hoe 

 or steel blade ; but the operation of detaching the Gum is rendered 

 difficult and painful by the sharp thorns which beset the trunk and 

 branches of the Acacia-trees. When the Toulon is replenished and 

 delivered to the master, the latter always hides it in the sand, to escape 

 the eyes of other gatherers, who, whether friends or foes, would un- 

 scrupulously appropriate it ; and so the cache goes on, till the number 

 of bags is sufficient to be worth carrying to market. If the Gum has 

 been picked too fresh, — that is, with the surface imperfectly dried, — -if 

 it lies too long buried, or if rain reaches it, in any of these circum- 

 stances, the sand is apt to get into it and to deteriorate the quality. 

 It has been asserted that the masses of Gum sometimes found near 

 and around old trees, caking the earth and impeding the vigorous 

 growth of the stems, are due to exudations from the roots ; but 1 am 

 assured that this idea is now exploded, and that buried Gum is the 

 main cause of them, added perhaps to some which may naturally drop 



from the trees. 



When the slaves have collected sufficient Gum to lade all the camels, 

 oxen, and other beasts of burden of their owner, it is sent to the place 

 of traffic, under the always onerous protection of the chief of the tribe ; 

 and is bartered with the French traders for blue cotton cloths, guns, 

 powder, sugar, etc. The sale is compulsory : the traffic can be only 

 effected at an appointed spot, and is superintended by the commandant 

 of a small ship of war; it commences in June and closes on the 1st of 

 August, and takes place at considerable and varying distances up the 



