ALOi^'. 685 



Socotrine Aloes is seen to contain an abundance of crystals. As im- 

 ported, it is usually soft, at least in the interior of the mass, but it 

 speedily dries and hardens by keeping/ It is occasionally imported in 

 a completely fluid state {Liquid Socotrine Aloes, Aloe Juice), and is not 

 unfrequently somewhat sour and deteriorated. 



Some fine aloes from Zanzibar, of which a ver\' small quantity was 

 offered for sale in 18G7, was contained in a skin, and composed of two 

 layers, the one amorphous, the other a granular translucent substance of 

 light colour, which when softened and examined with a lens, was seen 

 to be a mass of crystals. A very bad, dark, foetid sort of aloes is 

 brought to Aden from the interior. It seems to be the Moka Aloeft of 

 some writers. 



The quantity of aloes imported into Bombay in the year 1871-72 

 was 892 cwt., of which 736 cwt. are reported as shipped from the Red 

 Sea ports and Aden.- 



2. Barbados Aloes — Characteristic samples show it as a liard dry 

 substance of a deep chocolate-brown, with a clean, dull, waxy fracture. 

 In small fragments it is seen to be translucent and of an orange-brown 

 hue. When breathed upon, it exhales an odour analogous to, but easily 

 distinguishable from, that of Socotrine aloes. It is imported in boxes 

 and gourds. The gourds, into which the aloes has been poured in a 

 melted state through a square hole, over which a bit of calico is after- 

 wards nailed, contain from 10 to 40 lb. or more. Of late years, Barbados 

 aloes having a smooth and glassy fracture has been importeci ; it is 

 known to the London drug-brokers as " Capey Barhados." By keeping, 

 it passes into the usual variety having a dull fracture. 



The export of aloes from Barbados in 1871, as shown by the Blue 

 Book for that colony, was 104-6 cwt., of which 9o4< cwt. were shipped to 

 the United Kingdom. 



Curasao Aloes — manufactured in the Dutch West Indian islands 

 of Curasao, Bonaire, and Aruba, is imported into this country by way 

 of Holland, packed in boxes of 15 to 28 lb. each. In appearance it 

 resembles Barbados aloes, but has a distinctive odour. 



4. Caj)e Aloes — The special features of this sort of aloes are its 

 brilliant conchoidal fracture and peculiar odoui*. Small splinters seen 

 by transmitted light are highly transparent and of an amber colour ; 

 the powder is of a pale tawny yellow. When the drug is moistened and 

 examined under the microscope, no crystals can be detected, even after 

 the lapse of some days. Ctipe aloes has the odour of other kinds of 

 aloes, with a certain sourish smell which easily distinguishes it. Several 

 qualities are recognized, chiefly by the greater or lesser brilliancy of 

 fracture, and by the tint of the powder. 



From the Blue Book for the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 published at Cape Town in 1873, it appears that the export of aloes in 

 1872 was 484,532 lb. (4326 cwt.); and that the average market value 

 during the year was 3|rZ., the lowest price, Ihd., being at Riversdale and 



^The average loss as estimated in the ^ Statement of the Trade and Navigation 



drying of 560 lb., upon several occasions, of the Presidency of Bombay for 1871-72 

 was about 14 per cent. — Laboratory statis- pt. ii. 19. 

 tics, communicated by Messrs. Allen and 

 Hanburys, London. 



