VALOFIA. 507 



boxes. The tincture of kino is used medicinally, but an inconvenience 

 is frequently found to arise, from its changing to the gelatinous 

 form. Dr. Pereira seems to think this species of kino consists prin- 

 cipally of pectin and tannic acid. That chiefly used as East 

 Indian kino, is an extract formed by inspissating a decoction of 

 the branches and twigs of the gambier plant. Vauquelin analysed 

 it, and found it to consist of, tannin and peculiar extractive matter, 

 75 ; red gum, 24 ; insoluble matter, 1. 



The East Indian kino, imported from Bombay and Tellicherry, 

 is the produce of Pterocarpus marsupium, *a lofty, broad-spread- 

 ing forest tree, which blossoms in October and November. The 

 bark is of a greyish color, and is upwards of half an inch in thick- 

 ness on the trunk. "When cut, a blood-red juice speedily exudes 

 and trickles down ; it soon thickens, and becomes hard in the 

 course of fifteen or sixteen hours. The gum is extracted in the 

 season when the tree is in blossom, by making longitudinal in- 

 cisions in the bark round the trunk, so as to let the gum ooze down 

 a broad leaf, placed as a spout, into a receiver. When the receiver 

 is filled it is removed. The 'gum is dried in the sun until it 

 crumbles, and then filled in wooden boxes for exportation. 



P. erinaceus, a tree 40 to 50 feet in height, a native of the woods 

 of the Gambia and Senegal, furnishes kino, but none is collected in 

 or exported from Africa. Buteafrondosa, or the dhak tree of the 

 East Indies, furnishes a similar product, in the shape of a milky, 

 colored, brittle, and very astringent gum. Kino is used as a 

 powerful astringent, and is administered in the form of powder 

 and tincture. Some specimens of Butea kino, analysed by Prof. 

 Solly, after the impurities had been separated, yielded 73 per 

 cent, of tannin. 



VALONTA is the commercial name of the cupula or cup of the 

 acorn, produced by the Quercus cegilops and its varieties, the 

 Balouia or Valonia oak, natives of the Levant, from whence, and the 

 Morea, they form a very considerable article of export ; containing 

 abundance of tannin they are largely used by tanners. The 

 tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The bark of Q. 

 tinctorea, a native of North America, yields a yellow dye. 



The quantity of valonia imported for home consumption, in 1836, 

 was 80,511 cwts., of which Turkey furnished 58,724 cwts., and Italy 

 and the Ionian islands 7,209 cwts. Of 163,983 cwts. imported in 

 1840, 143,095 cwts. were brought from Turkey, 15,195 cwts 

 from Italy, and the residue from Greece and the Ionian Islands. 

 The entries for home consumption in the three years ending with 

 1842, amounted to about 8,200 tons a year. The increase since has 

 been considerable, the imports having been, in 1848, 10,237 tons ; 

 in 1849, 16,671 tons ; in 1850, 12,526 tons ; in 1851, 10,639 tons ; 

 in 1852, 13,870 tons. We receive about 14,000 to 20,000 cwts. 

 annually from Leghorn. The imports into the port of Hull are 

 3,900 cwts. per year. 



The prices of Smyrna valonias are from 13 to 14 per ton ; 



