234 



LEGUMINOS^. 



of which are strongly fibrous, small yellowish flowers densely arranged 

 in spikes 2 to 3 inches long, and exceeding the bipinnate leaves, and a 

 broad legume 3 to 4 inches in length containing 5 to G seeds. 



According to Schweinfurth/ it is this tree exclusively that yields 

 the fine white gum of the countries bordering the Upper Nile, and 



especially of Kordofan. He 



7 



fistula 



stenocarjpa 



Fistula), as well as by the Ssant or Sont, A. nilotica Desfoat (i. 

 arabica Willd.), These trees grow in north-eastern Africa ; the last- 

 named is, moreover, widely distributed all over tropical Africa as far as 



and also extends to Sindh, 



Senegambia^ 



Gujarat^ and Central India. 



Mozambique and Natal 



' " We 



• }j 



of gum exported from the Somali coast/ to be inferior to good common 

 Ai-abic gum. Hildebrandt (1875) mentions that gum is there largely 

 collected from Acacia ahyssinica Hochst. and A. glaiicophylla Steudel. 



_ . • 



Hist 



-The history of this drug carries us back to a remote anti- 

 quity. The Egyptian fleets brought gum from the gulf of Aden as 

 early as the 17th century B.C. Thus in the treasury of king Ehampsinit 

 ' (Ramses III.) at Medinet Abu, there are representations of gum-trees, 

 together with heaps of gum. The symbol used to signify (/itm, is read 

 Kami-en-punt. i.e. gum from the country of Punt. This, in all proba- 

 bility, includes both the Somali coast as well as that of the opposite 

 parts of Arabia (see article Olibanum, p. 136). Thus, gum is of 

 frequent occurrence in Egyptian inscriptions; sometimes mention js 



hami 



exists 



Greek Kofx^ii, whence through the Latin our own word gum.'^ 



The Egyptians used gum largely in painting ; an inscription 

 which states that in one particular instance a solution of Kami (gum) 

 was used to render adherent the mineral pigment called chesteh,^ the 

 name apphed to lapis lazuli or to a glass coloured blue by cobalt. 



Turning to the Greeks, we find that Theophrastus in the 8rd and 

 4th century B.C. mentioned K6ju/^i as a product of the Egyptian "Acat't^fl. 



of which tree there 



Egj'pt 



„, ,— -- — was a forest in'the Thebais of Upper _^o^,. 



btrabo also, m describing the district of Arsinoe, the modern I ayum 

 says that gum is got from the forest of the Thebaic Akanthe. 



Celsus in the 1st century mentions Gummi accmtUmm; l^ios- 

 condes and Pliny also describe Egyptian gum, which the latter values 

 at 3 (^ewam [25.] per lb. «J'i^ b > 



In those times gum no doubt used to be shipped from north-eastern 

 Atrica to Arabia ; there is no evidence showing that Arabia itselt liau 

 ever furnished the chief bulk of the dru<r The desiimation gum araow 



'^ Aufzuhlunri unci Beschreibung der Aca. 

 ^^Z'^J^'''''^9p^0chkts.~Linncea, i. (1S67) 

 .W8-3iG ^-ith 21 plates. Schwcinfurth'a 

 bservationa are strongly coafirmecl by an 

 account of the commerce of Khartum in 



Berlifr?7t'-^ •^'" '^'■^^■"»'^^' «• ('807, 



JJJf ^" "^^"«'*°"" G"iU. et Perr. is the 

 same tree. 



* As presented to mc by Capt. Hun er 

 of Aden, July 1877.— F- A- F. ^ ,„;„w 



» We have to thank Professor ^'^^^^^ 

 for most of the information relating ^.^ 



Egypt, which may be partly tou"<\^ j,, 

 own works, and partly in those of Bru„s 



Ebers, and Lepsuis. Air„h'mieder 



"Lepsius, Ahhandl. der ^/'^^ ^i' jgC. 

 ]Vm(nsch. zu Berlin for IS/ 1. V-'J-l^^. 

 Metalle in den Aegyptischen Inscum 



