52 GUMS FROM SENEGAL. 



river, whence it is conveyed in boats to St. Louis; there it is carefully 

 examined before its despatch to France. 



The Ghioloff Gum, which comes in very small quantities, is infinitely 

 the finest, the purest, and clearest, with a bright surface, a glassy, 

 almost crystallized fracture, and in large bits. The Moors are so 

 averse to its exportation, that it is only obtainable as a sort of contra- 

 band article. 



The Bondou Gum is very often mixed with the Galam Gum, is diffi- 

 cult to be distinguished by sight alone, and baffles the eye of experi- 

 enced traders, but is recognized by its bitter flavour. It is the pro- 

 duce of an Acacia, near A. albida. 



The Gonake or Gonate Gum (so called from the tree which yields it, 

 and to which the natives give that name) is collected abundantly in 

 the Oasis of Ei-Fatak. It is redder than the other Gums ; but the faci- 

 lity with which it is dried and pulverized affords an easy mode of add- 

 ing it to the better sorts and adulterating them ; and the Moors thus 

 habitually increase the volume and weight of the more saleable gums. 

 The taste alone detects its presence, for it is very bitter. It exudes 

 from Acacia Adansoni of the Senegal Mora {Mimosa Gonakie, Adanson). 

 The Friable Gum, or Sabra-beida (corrupted into Salabreda), is offered 

 in the form of a coarse salt ; its fracture is glassy, the surface always 

 dull and often wrinkled, and it is found either in rounded tears or in 

 long, vermicular fragments; the flavour is always rather bitter. Its 

 different colours, whitish, red, green, and yellow, depend on the age 

 and strength of the Gum-tree which affords it ; the more or less sandy 

 nature of the soil has also a marked effect. It melts readily in its own 

 weight of water, and forms a thin mucilage, which slightly reddens lit- 

 mus paper. January, February, and March are the times when it is 

 collected, in the forests not far from Bakel ; and it is sold by stealth, 

 by the Moors, and as fast as they can gather it, for it will not bear to 

 be buried, like the Gum of Acacia Verek. It is produced by an Acacia, 

 nearly allied to A. albida ; the tree is very thomy, much smaller than 

 A. Verek, and grows in the sands of the Sahara, near Galam, on the 

 right bank of the river. The white bark gives it the name of Sabra- 

 beida (the White Tree) ; its Gum is very inferior to the Hard Gum, 

 and is never vended at St.-Louis, except when the harvest of Hard Gum 

 fails. 



