514 
ON  THE  KINO  TREE  OF  WEST  AFRICA. 
history  of  this  drug  is  so  scanty,  that  it  becomes  necessary  to 
enter  into  a  detailed  account  of  what  has  hitherto  been  pub- 
lished concerning  it.  Dr.  Fothergill,  so  far  back  as  1757,  seems 
to  have  been  the  first  to  describe  the  qualities  of  this  gum  kino, 
owing  to  the  recommendation  of  a  Dr.  Oldfield,  who  termed  it 
the  true  gum  Senegal.  He,  however,  remarked,  that  the  title 
was  somewhat  objectionable,  as  the  small  quantity  which  had 
then  been  procured,  had  principally  been  derived  from  the  river 
Gambia,  and  suggested,  that  if  an  application  be  bestowed  on 
the  gum  in  question,  that  of  Cfummi  rubrum  astringens  Gram- 
biense,  would  not  be  inappropriate.  He  also  further  observed, 
that  the  drug  was  purchased  on  board  a  Guinea  ship  at  Hull, 
and  amounted  only  to  a  few  pounds  in  weight,  which  the  purchaser 
vended  to  the  most  curious  of  his  customers  as  a  «  rare  sort 
of  the  true  dragon's  blood."  This  knowledge  induced  him  to 
refer  to  the  recent  works  of  travellers  in  Western  Africa  :  and 
in  that  of  Moore,  under  a  letter  of  instructions  from  the  Gover- 
nor of  James's  Fort  to  the  author,  who  then  resided  at  Bruko,  a 
trading  factory  on  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Gambia,  he  found 
the  following  remarks  :  "  There  is  a  red  liquor  that  bleeds  plen- 
tifully from  the  bark  of  a  tree  called  Pau  de  Sangue  upon  the  in- 
cision, and  in  little  time  hardens  to  the  consistence  of  gum, 
which  is  of  great  value,  and  therefore  you  are  desired  to  use  your 
utmost  diligence  to  procure  large  quantities  of  it."*  Bruko  is  a 
small  Foota-foulah  town,  located  about  two  miles  above  McCar- 
thy's Island,  and  the  Pterocarpus  or  rosewood  abundantly  flour- 
ishes in  its  vicinage,  and  is  the  only  production  that  yields  any 
gum  or  wood  of  the  hue  that  would  merit  the  designation  of 
Pau  de  Sangue.  Moore,  in  reply,  states  that  he  sent  a  sample 
from  Bruko,  which  proved  to  be  gum  dragon,  and,  moreover, 
writes  in  another  letter,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  were 
accustomed  to  bring  him  various  kinds  of  gum,  amounting  to 
ten  or  twelve  pounds  in  weight,  of  this  only  two  pounds  were 
gum  dragon,  the  remainder  resembling  gum  Senegal  of  an  infe- 
rior quality.  He  further  observes  that  "  gum  dragon  comes 
out  of  a  tree  called  Pau  de  Sangue,  which  has  a  very  rough 
*  Med.  Observ.  and  Inquiries,  vol.  i.,  p.  358  ;  vide  also  Moore,  as  quoted 
in  the  same  paper. 
