APPENDIX L 



405 



purity, the volatile principles being fixed by moisture and by the 

 exclusion of external air. That it is the produce of a tree is 

 proved by the discovery of pieces of gum embedded in a touch- 

 wood which crumbles under the fingers ; the 6i goose-skin," which 

 is the impress of sand or gravel, shows that it was buried in a 

 soft state ; and the bees, flies, gnats, and other insects which are 

 sometimes found in it delicately preserved, seem to disprove a 

 remote geologic antiquity. At the end of the rains it is usually 

 carried ungarbled to Zanzibar. When garbled upon the coast 

 it acquires an additional value of 1 dollar per frasilah. The 

 Banyan embarks it on board his own boat, or pays a freight 

 varying from 2 to 4 annas, and the ushur or government tax is 

 6 annas per. frasilah with half an anna for charity. About 8 

 annas per frasilah are deducted for i( tare and tret." At Zanzi- 

 bar, after being sifted and freed from heterogeneous matter, it is 

 sent by the Banyan retailer to the Indian market or sold to the 

 foreign merchant. It is then washed in solutions of various 

 strengths : the lye is supposed to be composed of soda and other 

 agents for softening the water; its proportions, however, are 

 kept a profound secret. European technologists have, it is said, 

 vainly proposed theoretical methods for the delicate part of the 

 operation which is to clear the goose-skin of dirt. The Ameri- 

 cans exported the gum uncleaned, because the operation is better 

 performed at Salem. Of late years they have begun to prepare 

 it at Zanzibar, like the Hamburg traders. When taken from 

 the solution, in which from 20 to 37 per cent, is lost, the gum is 

 washed, sun-dried for some hours, and cleaned with a hard brush, 

 which must not, however, injure the goose skin ; the dark i( eyes," 

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

 tool. It is then carefully garbled w T ith 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, requires years of ex- 

 perience. As a rule, the clear and semi-transparent 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 ap- 

 pear 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 gum, 

 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 2 or 3 ounces; 

 they have been known to weigh 5 lbs., and, it is said, at Salem 



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