18 
GUMS. 
The pale colour is very important, and rules out most of our 
local gums. A good gum should be unmixed ; mixed gums 
fail to dissolve at a uniform rate in water. Great care must 
be taken in the collection to avoid contaminating the gum 
with pieces of bark and other extraneous matter. Before 
export the gum should be sorted into qualities, and the 
packages should be uniform in quality and true to sample. 
The London brokers remark that it is of little use shipping 
small quantities ; if it be desired to establish a new gum on 
the market, at least 4 or 5 tons should be sent, and a regular 
supply of the same quality be guaranteed practicable. 
Consumers will not change the gums they use for others of 
which the supply is precarious. 
Probably there is never likely to be any appreciable 
export of gums from Ceylon, but it is by no means 
impossible that there should be less import trade, some of 
the imported gums being replaced by local qualities. Some 
of the imported gum is the best gum arabic for medicinal 
use, and so far no local gum has been discovered good 
enough to replace this. A good deal of gum is, however, 
imported for use in mucilage for adhesive purposes, and 
much of this might be replaced by local supplies. The gums 
of Feronia, Odina, &c., give good mucilages, though some¬ 
what darker in colour than gum arabic. Calico printing 
and the manufacture of colours are practically unknown at 
present in Ceylon, but in the event of their establishment 
there are several gums for which a use might then be found. 
The foregoing brief account will suffice to describe the 
general features of this class of substances, and to furnish a 
few elementary hints to any one thinking of endeavouring 
to start the collection or export of gums. A collection of 
nearly all the different kinds of gums known in the colony, 
either native or imported, will be found in the Museum at 
Peradeniya. A list of the known.Ceylon native or imported 
gums follows, arranged according to the scientific names of 
the plants which furnish them. 
