308 THE COPAL OF EASTERN AFRICA. 



however, are kept a profcamd secret. European technologists have, it is 

 eaid, vainly proposed theoretical methods for the delicate part of the opera- 

 tion, which is to clear the goose-shin of dirt. The Americans exported the 

 resin uncleaned, because the operation is better performed at Salem. Of late 

 years they have began to prepare it at Zanzibar, like the Hamburg traders. 

 When taken from the solution, in which from twenty to thirty-seven per 

 cent, is lost, the resin is washed, sun-dried for some hours, and cleaned with 

 a hard brush, which must not, however, injure the goose-skin : the dark 

 " eyes," where the dirt has sunk deep, are also picked out with an iron 

 tool. It is then carefully garbled, with due regard to colour and size. 

 There are many tints and peculiarities, known only to those whose interests 

 compel them to study and to observe copal, which, like cotton and Cashmere 

 shawls, recpiire years of experience. As a rule, the clear and semi-transpa- 

 rent are the best ; then follow the numerous and almost imperceptible 

 varieties of dull white, lemon colour, amber yellow, rhubarb yellow, bright 

 red and dull red. Some specimens of this vegetable fossil appear, by their 

 dirty and blackened hue, to have been subjected to the influence of fire ; 

 others, again, are remarkable for a tender grass-green colour. According to 

 some authorities, the resin, when long kept, has been observed to change 

 its tinge. The sizes are fine, medium, and large, with many subdivisions : 

 the pieces vary from the dimensions of small pebbles to two or three ounces ; 

 they have been known to weigh 5 lb., and, it is said, at Salem a piece of 35 lb. 

 is shown. Lastly, the resin is tbrown broadcast into boxes and exported 

 from the island. The Hamburg merchants keep European coopers, who put 

 together the cases, the material of which is sent out to them. It is almost 

 impossible to average the export of copal from Zanzibar. According to the 

 late Lieut-Col. Hamerton, it varies from 800,000 to 1,000,0001b. per annum, 

 of which Hamburg absorbs 150,0001b., and Bombay two lacs' worth. 



The refuse copal used formerly to reach India as "packing," being 

 deemed of no value in commerce ; of late years the scarcity of the supply 

 has rendered merchants more careful. The price also is subject to incessant 

 fluctuations, and during the last few years it has increased from four and 

 a half dollars to a maximum of twelve dollars per frasilah. According to 

 the Arabs, the redder the soil, the better is the copal. The superficies of 

 the copal country is generally a thin coat of white sand, covering a dark 

 and fertilising humus, the vestiges of decayed vegetation, which varies from 

 a fev, r inches to a foot and a half in depth. In the island of Zanzibar, which 

 produces only the chakazi or raw copal, the subsoil is a stiff blue clay, the 

 raised sea-beach, and the ancient habitat of the coco. It becomes greasy 

 and adhesive, clogging the hoe in its lower bed ; where it is dotted with 

 blood-coloured fragments of ochreish earth, proving the presence of oxi- 

 dising and chalybeate efficients, and with a fibrous light-red matter, appa- 

 rently decayed coco-roots. At a depth of from two to three feet, water 

 oozes from the greasy walls of the pit. When digging through these forma- 

 tions, the copal resin occurs in the vegetable soil overlying the clayey subsoil. 



A visit to the little port of Saadani afforded different results. After 



