148 
ON  THE  DRUGS  OBSERVED  AT  ADEN,  ARABIA. 
bore  root,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  use  animal  charcoal  to  decolor- 
ize the  helleborine,  as  its  ethereal  solution  is  colorless  in  the  above 
process,  and  this  substance  crystallizes  thereout,  with  care,  nearly 
in  the  same  condition. — Annals  of  Pharmacy,  Dec.  1852. 
NOTES  UPON  THE  DRUGS  OBSERVED  AT  ADEN,  ARABIA. 
By  James  Vaughan, 
Member  of  the  Royal  College  of  England,  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  Bombay  Army,  Civil  and 
Port  Surgeon  at  Aden,  Arabia. 
Communicated,  by  Daniel  Hanbury. 
Gum  Arabic,  Gummi  acacice,  known  in  Arabia  and  on  the  Afri- 
can coast  by  the  name  of  Sumgh.  The  acacia  which  yields  this 
gum  is  generally  a  small  shrub  of  a  dry  and  withered  appearance; 
occasionally,  however,  it  shoots  out  into  a  tree  of  from  twenty  to 
thirty  feet  high.  The  Somalis  on  the  north-eastern  coast  of  Africa 
collect  the  gum  during  the  months  of  December  and  January.  The 
process  of  obtaining  it  is  extremely  simple  :  long  incisions  are 
made  in  the  stein  and  branches  from  which  the  juice  flows,  and 
when  dry,  is  removed.  After  the  gum  of  a  district  has  been  gath- 
ered, it  is  sewn  up  in  goat-skins,  and  brought  on  camels  to  the 
great  Berbera  fair,  or  to  some  of  the  small  settlements  on  the 
coast,  and  thence  shipped  for  Aden  and  India.  Three  descrip- 
tions of  the  gum,  styled  severally  Felick,  Zeila,  and  Berbera,  are 
exported  from  the  Somali  coast. 
1.  Felick  Gum  is  collected  chiefly  by  the  Magartain*  Somalis 
and  those  who  inhabit  the  district  of  Gardaf  or  Cape  Gardafui. 
None  of  this  quality,  which  is  esteemed  the  best,  finds  its  way  to 
Aden;  a  little  reaches  Maculla  and  Shehr  on  the  Arabian  coast, 
but  the  mass  is  usually  bought  up  by  the  Banians,f  and  shipped 
direct  for  India.  The  Gum  Felick  realizes  about  twenty-five 
rupees^  the  hundredweight  in  the  Bombay  market. 
2.  Zeila  Gum,  so  called  from  the  port  of  that  name,  and 
3.  Berbera  Gum,  from  the  district  of  Berbera.  The  former  of 
these  is  sold  for  fifteen,  and  the  latter  for  thirteen  rupees  the  hun- 
dredweight in  the  Bombay  bazaar. 
The  acacia  is  common  throughout  Yaman  and  Hadramaut,  but 
*  Otherwise  Meggertein,  or  Mijjertheyn.—D.  H.  t  Hindoo  Merchants. 
£  The  rupee  is  equal  to  two  shillings  sterling. 
