ACACIA 



SENEGAL 



Gum Arabic 



D.E.P., 

 i., 54. 



Habitat. 



Tanning-bark. 



D.E.P., 



i., 55. 



Gum. 

 Arabic. 



Three Forms. 



Medicinal Gum 

 Arabic. 



East Indian 

 Gum. 



THE TEUE GUM ARABIC TREE 



employed in medicine. The tree affords also a very beautiful, strong and durable 

 TIMBEB which is largely employed for cart-wheels, sugar-cane crushers, agri- 

 cultural implements, etc. The soft delicate twigs are employed as tooth-brushes, 

 especially in the Panjab. [<7/. Pharmacog. Ind., i., 552.] 



A. pennata, Willd. ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 297 ; Gamble, Man. 

 Ind. Tvmbs., 300 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 269 : Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., 

 i., 451. Biswul, arar, shemba, aila, undaru, gurwa, afla, awed, arfu, 

 su-yit, etc. A large climbing shrub of the Sub-Himalaya, East Bengal, 

 South India, and common all over Burma. 



The bark is an article of commerce, being exported from the Konkan, and 

 employed in Bombay to TAN fishing-nets. Hooper (Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 1, 

 26) says that a sample from Bombay was found to possess only 8'8 per cent, of 

 tannin. In the Annual Reports of the Forest Department, Bombay Southern 

 Circle, an entry occurs of the amounts realised by the sale of shemba bark. 

 These range from Rs. 25 to Rs. 394. In Bombay it fetches about Rs. 14 per 700 Ib. 



A. Senegal, Willd. ; Fl. Br, Ind., ii., 295 ; Gamble, Man. 

 Ind. Tinibs., 299 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 266 ; Cooke, FL Pres. 

 Bomb., i., 449. It yields the TRUE GUM ARABIC of European commerce, 

 and is the khor (Sind), khor-ka-khor (Lus Bela), kumta (Rajputana). 

 A low tree with grey bark and flexuose branches, met with, so far as 

 India is concerned, on the dry, rocky hills of Sind and Rajputana, more 

 particularly in the Lus Bela country. 



Commercial Qualities. It seems desirable to bring together 

 in this place a few of the more important facts regarding India's 

 participation in the world's supply of Gum Arabic. There may be said 

 to be three chief forms of the gum : 1st, TRUE GUM ARABIC of EUROPEAN 

 COMMERCE ; 2nd, THE EAST INDIA GUM ARABIC ; 3rd, THE GUM ARABIC 

 of INDIA, often collectively called " Gum Ghati." The True Gum Arabic 

 is obtained from A. Senegal, Willd., and there may be said to be 

 two or three grades of it : 



1. (a) GUM SENEGAL, the verek of the Negroes. This comes from the French 

 Colony of Senegal (on the West Coast of Africa). 



(b) KOBDOFAN or TURKEY GUM. This is known in East Central Africa by 

 the name hashab. It comes from the mountainous tracts of Kordofan on the 

 Upper Nile and almost in the same latitude as Senegal, though across the vast 

 continent of Africa from west to east. It occurs in round lumps, often as 

 large as a walnut, or in irregular broken pieces, pure white, very much fissured, 

 especially on the surface. This gum is most frequently used for medicinal 

 purposes, and may, in fact, be regarded as the true officinal Gum Arabic of 

 England, India and America. 



(c) Inferior qualities known in trade, such as SUAKIM GUM, SENNAAB, BLUE 

 NILE, BABBABY or MOBOCCO and MOGADOB GUMS. These are most probably 

 mainly derived from A., arnbit-a. Reference has already been made to the 

 variability of gum due to climate, soil, seasons, etc., and to the part possibly 

 played by bacilli (see above, p. 2), but physical changes also take place subse- 

 quent to its collection, and these doubtless produce variations in quality. [Cf. 

 Journ. Soc. Chem. Indust., 1903, xxit., 429; Goetze, Pharm. Zeit., 18, 119; 

 P/torm. Journ., 1903, 70, 417 ; Muriel, Ind. For., 1902, xxviii., 45-58.] 



Attention may now be directed to The EAST INDIA GUM ARABIC. 

 This is imported into Bombay, in the first instance, from Aden and the 

 Red Sea ports no part of it being produced in India. There are two 

 qualities, viz. maklai and maswai. The former exists in large round 

 tears or vermicular pieces, white, yellow or reddish. It is much like GUM 

 SENEGAL, but more fissured. It derives its name from Makalia, the port 

 from which it is mainly shipped. The latter exists in angular fragments 

 and vermicular pieces very similar to the former and obtains its name 



1C 



