TIIK \LOKS 



INDIAN L'OM MKIM T, 



ALOE 



VERA 



D.E.P, 

 i., 179 90. 

 Aloes. 



ALOE, I. inn.: b'l.Hr.Iml., vi.. J',| : I'harmaooij. /W., iii.. l'.7 7<! ; 



Ci. /*"/>/. 7>rw/a Corom., i., I H>. 126, 149, 158; II MOO^WU 

 Several speeies of ALOE and diverse methods of extracting, drying and 

 the juice result in the supply of the different known qualities 

 of this drug. The following species may be specially mentioned as afford- 

 ing the, major portions of the aloes of Indian commerce : 



A. abysslnica, Lam. , Baker, Journ. Linn. Soo., xviii., 174. Jaforabad Jaferabad. 

 ami possibly also the bulk of tho Moka aloes imported from the Red Sea 

 This is prepared at the town of Jaforabad in Kathiawar by persons 

 suppose.! I.. In- of African descent, It is sold in tho form of flat circular cakes 

 almost I. lack in colour, has a glassy fracture and yields a yellowish powder having 

 a strong aloetie aroma. This, as also tho imported Moka quality, cousin 

 the aloes most in demand in India. 



A. Perryl, Baker, Hot. Mag., 6596. This is the Socotrine Aloes, and Socotrine. 



Iv also the Zanzibar Aloes of commerce, of which a fair amount is 

 imported into Bombay, and after being assorted is re-exported again to 

 Knropo. [Cf. Mandelslo, Travels, K>:i!>, 15. | 



A. vera, Linn. ; the Common or Barbados Aloes or Curasao Aloes. Barbados. 

 S-'veral forms of this species have become completely naturalised in India, and 

 i hat too from the hot, dry outer valleys of the N.W. Himalaya throughout 

 the central tableland to Capo Comorin. 



Both the aloe plant and aloe drug havo Sanskrit and vernacular names Indian Names, 

 attributed to them that would seem fairly ancient. The following may be 

 specially quoted : For tho Plant : ghi-kunvdr, ghirta-kunvdr, kumdri, kora-kdnda, 

 kuvdra, kalabandu, lola-sara, etc. For the Drug : ilva, eilya, clio, yalva, mo- 

 shabbar, musumbra, kalabol, etc., etc. Sir William Jones calls it taruni, saha, 

 cumari (As. Res., iv., 272). 



Most scientific writers are agreed that although the aloe has been completely 

 naturalised in India for a very long time it is not originally a native of the country. 

 Of late, attempts have been made with comparative success to show that some 

 at least of the species might provide an efficient substitute for the imported 

 drug. Indian aloes seem first to have been mentioned by Garcia de Orta (1563, Early Mention. 

 Coll., ii.) as prepared particularly in Cambay and Bengal. He adds that though 

 IMiny and Dioscorides refer to the Indian aloes as the best, they were referring 

 unconsciously to the re-export of the Socotrine product. Paulus JEgineta 

 (Adams, transl., iii., 34) reviews the information possessed by the early 

 Greeks, Romans and Arabians, and might be consulted. The early Indian travel- 

 lers such as Linschoten, Tavernier, Hove, etc., afford useful particulars, but 

 greater details may be learned from Ainslie, Royle, Warring, etc. Rumphius 

 (Herb. Amb., 1750, v., 272) mentions the use of aloes on the Coromandel Coast 

 in the preparation of cement. [Cf. Acosta, Tract, de las Drogas, 1578, 191-211 ; Cement. 

 Ligon, Hist. Barbados, 1657, 98 ; Rheede, Hort. Mai., xi., t. 3 ; Kanny Lall Dey, 

 Indig. Drugs. Ind., 19; Taleef Shereef (Playfair, transl.), 1833, 138; Tschirch, 

 Schweiz. Wochenschrift fur Chem. und Pharm., 1902, No. 23 (attributes the aloes 

 of the Cape to .4. ferojr) Johannes Klaveness, Studien Natal Uganda-Aloe, 1901 ; 

 White and Humphrey, Pharmacop., 1901, 51-2 ; Ponder and Hooper, Mat. 

 Med. ; Bens, Southern Arabia, 1900, 381.] 



The Indian TRADE in aloes is not a very large one. The total imports Trade, 

 come usually to something like 600 cwt. valued at a little under Us. 20,000 

 (501 cwt., valued at Us. 7, 994 in 1906-7), a quotation that would seem 

 to be about one-third less than that of 20 years ago. The total exports 

 (including re-exports) would appear to average very nearly the same 

 in quantity and value as the imports. The Indian foreign supply, imports and 

 ilmwn mainly from Africa and Arabia, and the exports of Indian-grown 

 aloes go mainly from Bombay and Madras. In fact, the most striking 

 modern feature seems to be the growth of an export from Madras 

 to the Straits Settlements. The re-exports (foreign aloes exported) 

 are made almost exclusively from Bombay and go mainly to the 

 United Kingdom, the next largest demand being made by the Straits 

 Settlements. 



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