All the gum-yielding Acacias exhibit
the same habit and general appearance,
differing only in technical characters.
They are spiny shrubs or small trees,
preferring sandy or sterile regions,
with the climate dry during
the greater part of the year.
Gum harvest from the various species
lasts about five weeks.
About the middle of November,
after the rainy season,
it exudes spontaneously
from the trunk and principal branches,
but the flow is generally
stimulated by incisions in the bark,
a thin strip, 2 to 3 feet
in length and 1 to 3 inches wide
being torn off.
In about fifteen days it thickens
in the furrow down which it runs,
hardening on exposure to the air,
usually in the form of round or oval tears,
about the size of a pigeon's egg,
but sometimes in vermicular forms,
white or red, according
to whether the species
is a white or red gum tree.
About the middle of December,
the Moors commence the harvesting.
Masses of gum are collected,
either while adhering
to the bark, or after it
falls to the ground,
the entire product,
often of various species,
thus collected, is packed
in baskets and very large sacks
of tanned leather and brought
on camels and bullocks to the centres
of accumulation and then
to the points of export,
chiefly Suakin, Alexandria,
or - in Senegambia - St. Louis.
It is then known as 'Acacia sorts,'
the term being equivalent
to 'unassorted Acacia.'
Unsorted gums
show the widest variation
as to size of fragments,
whiteness, clearness, reedom
from adhering matter, etc.
It is next sorted or 'picked'
in accordance with these differences.
There are many kinds
of Acacia Gum in commerce:
acacia glaucophylla (Staud.)
&
acacia abyssinica (Hochst)
Said to yield
an equally good gum,
but little of it is believed
to reach the market.
Austrailian Gum
Cape Gum
Indian Gum
Kordofan Gum
Mogadore Gum
Senegal Gum
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