ACCOUNT OF THÉ GUM HÂKVESTS 
Ul 
Africa, even througli the desert, to ti ivfel over the hit^rior, m^à 
♦ to procure all the information that may be re«Juired i^felative ta 
this interesting part of the globe. 
It is in this game desert, between the banks of the Senegal ârîd 
the Isle of iLrgui%that there are to the northward, three forests of 
that species of tree which produces tlie giim, and which ok that 
account is Called the gum-tree. They are all situated at iieafiy 
an equal distance from thé river, and vt^hich is supposed to be 
about forty leagues : the foi ests are ten leagues distant from each 
other. The first is called Sa h el; the second, which is the largest, 
Lebiar ; und. the third is known by the name oî Atf alack. Se- 
veral small clusters of gum-trees, independent of these forest^ 
are to be found at many other pohits of the Senegai. 
The tree which produces the gum is a small species of Acacias 
it is thorny, branched, and loaded with leaves, which aye roi4gh^ 
always green, very narrow, and of a middling length: it^? âo^erà 
are white, and have but five-petals, which form a calix, filkd 
with stamina of the saiâe colour, surrounding a pistilk>fô which, 
changes into a cod Or husk from three to four inches long : this 
at the beginning is round and green; but at its maturity acquire* 
the colour of a dead leaf. It is filled with siîïall/ round, hard, 
and blackish seeds^ which serve for the reproduction of the 
tree. 
The gum is nothing else than the superabundant parts of t\i% 
sap of this tree, which sap being too small in quantity^ an4 
drawn rapidly up by the heat of the sun, swells the libres of tl>« 
tree, bursts the imperceptible coats which surround it^ and njake 
a passage through the pores of the bark. Tîiis never happens 
when the tree only has the necessary quantity of sap for its pre* 
servation and growth ; and then, if gum be wished for, it is ne- 
cessary to use violence, and gain it from the Butïiment of x\it 
tree by means of incision. 1 hifi practice affords soîse produce, 
but cannot be executed without the loss of a large portion of th« 
gum that escapes through these incision^r, which the sap always 
endeavours to heal. 
Two gum harvests are «rade every year: the first, which is 
the most abundant, takes place in December: the knobs are 
then larger, cleaner, and drier. Tins harvest is the best, because 
the rains, wliich have just ceased, have moisîeïïed the earth> 
which has, in consequence, afforded a more abuudaiU sap to the 
trees; and this the heat of the sun has had time to consolidate, 
diough without drying it. The second harvest is made ia 
IMarcli ; but this arfords less, and tlie produce is of an inferior 
quality, because the heat is then too violent, and it necessary 
to make incisions before the gum can be obtained. 
Befort^- the Senegal gum was known, that fioiB Arabia fuf-» 
