ACACIA 



EAST INDIA GUM ARABIC AND GUM GHATI SENEGAL 



Trade 



from tli<- port of Massowa. Both of these are good soluble fiurm, very 



littlf inferior to true Gum Arabic. They are picked and assorted, then 



;.orti'd I loin Bomb. i i INDIA GUM ARABIC, the traffic being by 



no menus unimportant. Within recent years, however, that traffic has 



MIV.-II distinct evidence of decline, duo, very possibly to direct shipments 



nope in place of to Bombay the historic emporium of distribution. 



Listlv. we come now to the INDIAN GUM ARABIC or GUM GHATI. oom ohu. 

 It would seem th.it, in contradistinction to the gums that reach Bombay 

 by sea, those that come by train, down the Ghats to Bombay, are col- 

 lect ivelv designated GUM GHATI. But it may be here mentioned that 

 (Musing in 1605 speaks of Gummi Gutti as brought from China to Europe : 

 hence it. may be asked, is it the Malay getah ? [Cf. Kew Mus. Guide, 

 150.] Accepting the modern usage, " Gum Ghati" would embrace 

 very possibly a wide range of gums, and very often, it is feared, degrees 

 of quality denote the extent of admixture rather than the nature of Quality, 

 specific variation. Gum when detected is gathered casually by women Indian Method 

 and children, or by the shepherds, and sold in small quantity to the 

 nearest shopkeeper. It is next conveyed to the dealers and so on through 

 many hands until diversified gums, the produce of a wide area, get hope- Difficulties in 

 lessly intermixed. Nowhere in India is gum systematically produced, ' J 

 and indeed hardly anywhere is arborescent vegetation so exclusively 

 of one gum-yielding tree as to admit of a large uniform and constant 

 supply of any particular gum. 



Prebble (in the paper to which reference has already been made) 

 describes 27 gums as met with by him in Bombay. These include 

 .1. m-tihicd, A. Catechu, ./. r<irn<'t*i<in<t. A. leuco/t/iftia and Bombay Gums. 

 A. niotfcstd. Some short time ago Captain M. A. Tighe, Political 

 Agent, Southern Baluchistan, was induced to give attention to this 

 subject. In consequence he furnished admirable samples of the gums 

 of Baluchistan, as also corresponding botanical specimens of the plants 

 from which these had been procured. The two most important were 

 thus definitely determined, namely, khor (or khor-ka-khor) Acticin 

 srm-iitil. and harbarbara A. ,/ftcf/tu'inontii. Tighe's description of 

 the country, of the season of flow of gum, and the dependence on rain, 

 will recall the conditions that prevail in the regions where the True 

 Gum Arabic is produced. [Cf. Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 2, for further 

 particulars.] Far to the south, at Tuticorin, a modern trade in gum has south Indian 

 been organised. Considerably different prices are being paid for the G 

 various grades of it, and at least one firm employs a staff of persons to 

 hand-pick and assort the gums as procured. I was unable to ascertain 

 all the species of plants that afford these South Indian gums, but the 

 most important would doubtless be A. SniKh-a, which is the South 

 Indian variety of J. Cutcc/m and an abundant tree from Coimbatore 

 northwards to the Deccan and Gujarat. [Cf. Heuze, Les PL Indust., 

 1895, iv., 258-66.] 



TRADE IN OUM ARABIC. As already stated, one of the features Trade in 

 of this trade is the supply drawn by India from Africa, Arabia, etc., Gum. 

 by sea, and from certain tracts of country by land routes across the 

 frontier. There are thus exports from India in both Indian and foreign 

 gums, the latter being usually designated re-exports. The following 

 statement shows the total transactions under these headings : 



(a) IMPORT* by SEA 1898-9, 2,841 cwt., Rs. 59,531 ; 1902-3, 1,146 



17 2 



