* 
-GOLBERRY’S TRAVELS IN AFRICA. . 
«« HJence the three forests of Sahel, Al- 
Patack, El-Hiebar, furnish yearly a constant 
produce of at least twelve hundred thousand 
pounds of gum.” 
wm er - 
_. The vessel.employed .in buying and 
_ selling the gum is a large wooden tub, 
containing about 2000lbs. weight, which 
is fixed on the deck of the gum-vessels: 
the Moors callit a éantar, and the French 
have adopted the name. Each vessel 
hhas its kantar fixed upon the deck ; at 
_ the bottom of the kantar is an aperture 
eighteen inches long and a foot broad, 
- to which is fixed a tube of: thick sail- 
_ «loth, descending into the hold of the 
_ ship. Whilst the gum is measuring, the 
aperture at the bottom of the kautar is 
ae 
groove ; when the kantar is full the 
- board is withdrawn, and, the gum runs 
through the tube into the hold, where 
people are ready to stowit. Crafty as 
the Moors are, they are too ignorant 
to stispect the effect produced. by a few 
inches being added to ‘the height or 
diameter of these measures ; the conse- 
quence of which has been, that the 
European traders, who know perfectly 
well how to enlarge their kantar when 
they buy, and diminish it. when they 
sell, have completely out-cheated them. 
Dhis fraud has been practised by all the 
traders who have purchased gum from 
the Moors of Zaara; and they seem 
to have emulated each other in their 
progressive additions to the kantar, 
which now holds four times as much as 
it did formerly. “Golberry says, that in 
the time. of the India Company (sixty 
years ago), it contained but little more 
than 500lb. weight of gum; it now holds 
1 
eh, 
uJ 
; aad calico dyed blue, ealled gui- 
lea pieces ; they are seven or eight ells 
long, and half an ell wide. ‘This is the 
chief, indeed the only article which they 
will take in exchange. 
Attempts have been made in France 
to imitate these guinea-pieces, but the 
imposture never succeeded: without 
tonfiding in the senses either of touch 
or sight, the Moors instantly ascertain 
whether a guinea-piece is fabricated in 
elosed by a smali board running in a- 
» ‘The Moors are paid for their gum in’ 
29 
France or India, Ay the smell. The real 
India pieces are in the highest estima- 
tion: they have no rival as to pre- 
ference. 
From the year 1780 to. 1787, the 
Moors constantly gave a kantar of gum, 
of 2000lbs. weight for fifteen guimea- 
pieces: the gum company established 
in Senegal, in 1784, never gave more ; 
and they annually purchased four hun- 
dred kantars, or about eight hundred 
thousand pounds weight. 
Mr. Golberry now enters into .some 
details concerning the possible produce. 
of the gum-trade, and the important 
advantages which would be derived 
from an extension of this branch .of 
commerce. The abundance of gum- 
trees in the vicinity of the island of St. 
Louis, and the banks of. the Senegal, is 
immense: besides the three forests we 
have already mentioned, there are two 
others, Guerof and Galam ; and there are 
numerous gum-trees scattered about in 
the islands and circumjacent countries, 
from which. M. Golberry supposes 
might be extracted from one to two 
hundred thousand pounds weight an- 
nually... When the Moors quit their 
oases, and encamp themselves. round 
the gum-forest of Zaara, the middling 
and lower classes subsist almost entire- 
ly on this gum, during the whole of the 
harvest, on their march to the banks of 
the Senegal, during the fair, and until 
they. return home. Six ounces.of gum 
are sufficient to support a man 24 
hours: it is occasionally dissolved in 
milk, but oftentimes suffered simply. to 
melt in the mouth. A lozenge is ogca« 
sionally made, by combining it with 
the juice or. flesh of animals, which will 
keep uninjured for a twelvemonth, 
This work contains a good deal.of in- 
formation on_ various subjects, but 
there is no connection between its parts, 
no' form, no- order; tautologies, incon- 
sistencies, theories, facts, politics, and 
natural history, are jumbled together 
in the most whimsical manner imagina- 
ble. The plates and mapof Africa are 
execrable: the translation is full of gal- 
licisms, is inelegant, and not always 
COITECT.. 
