The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1885-09-05
THE GUM TRADE
Product of a Tree That Needs No
Cultivation
Is Sutritive Quaiities-Where 1t Comes
From-fhe People Vino Collect 1t
4 Graphic Description of n
French Trading Town on
the Senegal.

a& Gum is one of those useful produc-
ions of nature which are furnished to
man without any cXertion Of his own,
Except that of gathering the fruit liber-
billy supplied by q b%ountiful provi-
E&dence.
N If the reader examine the map of
III Afr.ca, he will find in the northwestern
Spart a large region designated Sahara
a&#Dr the Great Desert. 1t is an immense
district of arid soil, chiefly consisting
2pf the desert sand. The kings or chiefs
Seem to have absolute power oyer the
mass of people, ever to the taking
eway of life, though this is rarely done,
I'm times of peace the Moors engage in
agriculture, but their delight is in plum
herring their weaker n~eighbors. This
us O easily effected by their superb
@brity in Craftsmanship. Their horses
arc generally very valuable, of ex-
rellent breed and surprising swift
ness. They are exceedingly skillful in
SNthe management of their steeds, being
Able to stop them at full gallon and to
sfre with Accuracy while riding at ut
most speed. The Moorish tribes rove
8About, seeking pasturage for their herds
and tlocks, and when the scanty herb
aAge of one place is eaten up they move
ITO another, receding from the desert as
the drouth prevails.
4 The tribes Of Moors to whom the
gum forests belong are the Farhcz, the
Bracknez and Darmanks. These oc-
scupy several GASES in that part of the
desert which is bounded on the south
8by the river Senegal, and on the west
by the Atlantic Ocean. The principal
forests of gum trees are those called
Sahel, Ell Fatack and Ell Hicbar. The
first produces the vereck or white gum,
which is held in highest estimation;
the others yield nehuel, the red gum of
commerce. The acacia which grows
in the desert is of more stunted form
and rugged appearance than that
(which flourisles by the river side, for
Bthc banks of the Senegal are partially
covered with Il stratum of vegetable
where foliage abounds, but the
gum trees of these places are not nu-
Bnerous. In the desert the acacia sell
Edom exceeds twenty feet in height and
Sthfee in circumference, and it has that
srugged and crooked form which is
common to the heritage of this arid re-
sgion, where the great drouth and parch-
sing winds give q blighted and stunted
appearance to all vegetable produc-
lions. The branches of the gum tree
are thorny and the projections of the
I@leaves, which are of a dirty green hue.
gIhe blossoms are short and of q white
In Western Africa there are
two seasons in the year-the dry
and the rainy. The duration of the
rains slightly varies according to the
latitude, being of longest continuance
near the Equator. In Senegambia they
last about two months, which arc pre-
and followed by a month of tor
nadoes. During eight month Of the
year the sun shines brilliantly in a
cloudless atmosphere. October may
pc termed the dry month, Il period
fruitful in productions of the soil and
prolific OF fevers and other dangerous
diseases, since the atmosphere is then
Piled with miasma from decomposed
vegetable matter. At this time the
gum trees swell with moisture and pre-
pare for their harvest season. In No
yember the bark. which had been
smooth and of a dark green color, be-
gins to crack in numberless places and
give out the gum. No help of man is
required to make missions in the stem,
Tor nature performs the whole work.
The hot wind of the desert begins to
blow, drying up everything with such
that no vegetable matter can
resist its influence. The tall grass of
The plains now withers and becomes
ike straw, trees on the high grounds
put on a wintry appearance, and would
loon burn like fire-wood, and household
furniture warps and cracks, so that
arawers will not shut nor boxes lock.
Even hard and well seasoned wood
Ian not wholly resist the scorching in
uences OF the harmattan. These eff
ects are increased by clouds of fine !,
sao' Vhiei w SdlIlGu III lHt uUu DIdStS j.;
md terrific whirlwinds which sweep ;
yer the country. The gum issues from :
ne cracks of the tree in different forms, !
principally in drops about the size :
a partridge's egg. The juice adj. :
pres, as is well-known, to the bark, !
lere it quickly dries and is soon ready I,
be gathered. Though the gum has /,
PULL appearance on the outside it :
Psents a beautifully clear and brilliant '
a1rface wherever il is broken, and If
into the mouth for a few moments
eomes transparent as crystal. About
eonth 10 allowed for natural causes $
accomplish the exuding process. p
n the trees are supposed to have d
H. pleted their yield for the year. The 8
now prepare for the harvest. p
Elhheey quit their camps in the desert, j,
only the aged, intirm and d
fle children, with d few persons TO b
No charge Of the cattle which remain e
Bind. A tumultuous assemblage Of p