426 
ON  TRAGACANTH  AND  ITS  ADULTERATION. 
wild  almond  and  plum.  That  from  Armenia  is  sent  to  Constan- 
tinople from  Moussul,  whence  it  derives  its  name  Moussuli. 
That  from  Caramania  is  sent  direct  to  Smyrna,  and  is  termed 
Oar  am  an. 
The  average  value  of  Moussul  gum  is  10  piasters  per  ohe  of 
lb.  2^,  equal  to  about  <£3  16s.  sterling  per  cwt.;  Caramania  gum 
is  worth  p.  4  or  p.  5  per  ohe,  or  £1  10s.  to  £1  18s.  per  cwt.; 
whereas  the  usual  value  of  gum  tragacanth  in  its  rough  state  is 
£10  per  cwt. 
Both  these  gums  are,  I  believe,  almost  worthless,  but  are  paid 
for  at  these  high  prices  for  the  purpose  of  mixing  with  gum 
Tragacanth,  and  bj  some  are  considered  to  be  an  inferior  kind 
of  the  same  gum.  As  neither  Caramania  nor  Moussul  gum  occur 
in  flaky  pieces  like  tragacaanth,  and  as  they  are  of  a  dark  color, 
particularly  the  former,  they  would  be  easily  detected  if  mixed 
with  leaf  gum,  without  previous  preparation.  The  Jews,  there- 
fore, who  adulterate  all  the  drugs  of  Turkey,  have  found  means  of 
deceiving  the  eye  in  the  following  manner. 
A  qantity  of  Caramania  gum  is  broken  up  into  small  irregular 
pieces,  which  are  whitened  with  White  Lead  ;  the  whitened  gum 
is  then  mixed  with  leaf  gum  to  the  extent  of  50  per  cent.  It  is 
prepared  in  a  similar  manner  for  the  vermicelli,  but  is  pounded 
into  smaller  pieces  and  added  only  to  the  extent  of  25  to  30  per 
cent.  To  adulterate  the  sorts  or  common  gum,  the  Caramania 
gum  is  prepared  in  a  similar  manner,  but  the  pieces  are  left 
larger:  the  proportion  added  is  frequently  100  per  cent. 
Moussul  gum  is  used  for  adulterating  the  better  kinds  of 
tragacanth. 
The  average  expense  of  handpicking  1000  okes  or  2667  lbs.  of 
gum  Tragacanth,  is  at  the  rate  of  1|  piasters  per  ohe,  or  eleven 
shillings  per  cwt.    Thus  : — 
Labor  of  men,  picking  and  sifting,  119  days,  at  piast.  10  per  day    .  1190  0 
Picking  by  women,  130£  olccs  broken  leaf  gum,  at  piast.  f  per  oke  .  81  56 
"          "           64i  olces  Vermicelli,  at  piast.  1  per  ohe      .    .  64  25 
"          "           20   ohes  Sesame  Seed  at  piast.  1^  per  ohe   .    .  30  0 
Superintendent,  11  days,  at  piast.  10   110  0 
Present  to  head-picker  .    .  25  0 
1500  81 
Note  by  Mr.  Ranbury. — [The  author  having  had  the  kindness 
to  forward  a  series  of  samples  illustrative  of  the  foregoing  notice, 
it  may  not  be  uninteresting  here  to  enumerate  them  : — 
