g70 Origin ofSandarac and Gum Arabic. 



burft in the fummer months, a refinous juice iflues from the trunk and branches by exuda- 

 tion, as in other coniferous trees. This is fandarac. The inhabitants of the country 

 coUeft it and carry it to the ports, whence it is conveyed to Europe. We make ufe of it 

 in the compofition of fealing wax, and for different kinds of varnifli. In 1793 an hundred 

 pounds weight of it coft in the ports of Morocco frofti 13 to 13 ^ piaftres, which is equal 

 to about 75 (7 Id,) centimes of our money per pound. The duty upon exportation was 

 about 9 francs per quintal. 



Sardarac, if good, is of a clear yellow, pure and limpid. It is a commodity rather 

 difficult to adulterate. Care however muft be taken that the Moors do not mix too much 

 dufl with it. 



It is probable the fame tree which produces fandarac at Senegal, whence it is exported 

 in rather large quantities. 



Another article of commerce, of which the kingdom of Morocco alfo partakes with 

 Senegal, is the gum called Arabic, which bears the name of al leilk. The tree which affords 

 it grows only in the weftern provinces of that ftate. The exportation of this fubftance to 

 the different ftates of Europe, amounts, throughout the ports of Morocco, to 8 or 9 thou- 

 fand quintals. M. Schoufboe fays, that this tree is the mimofa nilotica, called by the 

 nzt'ivcs al th/ah, which is no reafon why in the fouthern parts of Africa, it may not be 

 gathered, as authors aiTert that it is, from the mimo/a fenegal, and even from other fpecies 

 of that genus. 



In Barbary, a diflin£lion is made between the gum of Senegal and that of the country. 

 The firft has the preference, on account of its purity, its clearnefs, and its whitenefs, which 

 are the qualities in general fought for in this commodity. 



The gum which I myfelf collefted in the province of Mogador, obferves M. Shoufboe, 

 exudes from the trunk and the branches of the tree, like that of our fruit trees. It is in 

 round pieces, of the bignefs of a hazle niU, or at mofl of a walnut. Thcfe pieces, indeed, 

 by adhering to each other, fometimes form mafTes of the bignefs of the fift, or even 

 of the head ; but that is only owing to the adhefion which takes place between the gum, 

 flill frefli, after it had been feparated, and principally from the part which adhered to 

 the bark, where the gummy juice has not had time to harden. When earth, fmall ftones, 

 or other foreign bodies, are fometimes found jn thefe mafles, it is the effecfls of fraud. 

 M. Shoufboe fufpedts that it is this circumflance which has given rife to the opinion 

 that gum was found at the foot of trees, and that it exuded from their roots ; (fee 

 Bulletin des Sciences, No. 8.) for which he thinks there is no foundation. If that was 

 the cafe, it appears to him that befides the fand and the earth, with which the maffes 

 of gum are accidentally contaminated, fome of it would be found in the interior part 

 of the globules, and would be even fo much blended with the mucilaginous fubftance, 

 that it would not be polTible to purify it completely ; whereas, on the contrary, the gum 

 which comes from Senegal is ftill purer than that from Barbary. 



M. Schoufboe, neverthclefs obferves, that fandarac, and the gums which are exported 



through 



