210 
Commercial  Aloes. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May.  1903. 
that  aloes  are  cultivated  and  exported  from  the  island  of  St.  Vincent. 
This  St.  Vincent  aloes  would  probably  go  direct  to  the  London 
market,  and  is  no  doubt  the  true  origin  of  the  Barbadoes  aloes  noted 
by  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.  The  bulk  of  what  is  generally  sold  as 
Barbadoes  aloes  is  bought  and  sold  at  first  hand  as  Curacao  or 
Bonaire  aloes. 
CURACAO  ALOES. 
Curacao,  and  the  practically  identical  variety  sometimes  called 
Bonaire  aloes,  comes  from  the  Dutch  West  India  Islands,  and,  at 
the  present  time  at  least,  is  largely  if  not  exclusively  produced  on 
the  island  of  Aruba.  The  aloes  from  Curacao  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  found  on  the  European  markets  before  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Pereira  mentions  it  as  a  distinct  variety, 
and  says  that  while  he  had  not  seen  specimens  of  it,  and  none  had 
been  offered  on  the  London  markets,  it  had  been  repeatedly  seen  in 
Holland. 
A  description  of  Curacao  aloes  was  published  by  Mr.  A.  Faber,31 
who  states  that  it  is  most  like  Cape  aloes,  but  does  not  possess  the 
greenish  color  which  is  sometimes  perceived  in  the  latter.  From 
the  fact  that  even  in  Holland  it  could  not  be  regularly  obtained,  it 
was  supposed  that  its  production  at  that  time  was  scanty.  From 
Faber's  description  it  would  appear  that  the  South  African  method 
of  highly  heating  the  juice  and  boiling  until  quite  viscid  was  at  first 
employed  exclusively. 
Curacao  aloes  appears  to  have  varied  considerably  in  physical 
appearance  from  time  to  time,  no  two  of  the  older  descriptions  of  this 
variety  of  aloes  agreeing  in  all  particulars. 
The  source  and  production  of  aloes  in  the  Dutch  West  India  Isl- 
ands has  also  changed  to  some  extent. 
According  to  an  account  published  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Pharmacy32  (1896),  the  production  in  the  three  islands  for  the  years 
1885,  1886  and  1887  was  as  follows  in  kilos: 
1885.  1886.  1887. 
Cura£ao   2*080  "500 
Bonaire   5*821         18*640  2*075 
Aruba  123*115       158*011  189925 
According  to  a  report  of  the  British  Consul  in  Curacao  (quoted 
by  Gehe  &  Co.,  Dresden),  the  production  for  1898,  1899  and  1900 
was  as  follows  in  kilos: 
