"دليل كرمانشاه." [و‎‎١‎٢‎٧] (٥٠٤/٢٥٨)

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71 krans per maund. The prices were much lower in former years ; 4 to 5
krans being asked for 1 maund. When soited, the different classes fetch
10, 6 and 4 krans per maund respectively.
Gum tragacanth is obtained from a plant called by the Persians “ Gavan”.
The plants giving the various qualities of gum traganth are all known
under the name of gavan, and I do not know which quality is obtained
from the Astragalus verm. Astragalus verus is plentiful between Hamadan
and Kermanshah,
First quality katyra is obtained from the plant, known as Ci Gavansefid”
or white gavan, by incisions, from which the gum exudes. Second quality
is obtained from the yellow gavan which is a larger plant than ti e gavan-
sefid. The top of the plant is burnt, and when the leaves are all consumed
the fire is put out and incisions are made. The following morning the
gum which has oozed out of the incisions is gathered. This operation is
repeated three or four times, the quality improving each time.
The Arrehbor gum exudes from the branch of a small tree, the top of
which has been burnt and the branches then cut with a saw. The branches
are cut three or four times.
The plant-yielding Kora is treated in the same way as that yielding
Arrehbor gum. The operation is repeated three times, and the quality
of the gum deteriorates each time. After seven years’ constant tapping the
gavan plants dry up.
The indiscriminate tapping of the plant-givingkatyra will soon cause the
supply of gums to diminish. Already the fields in the vicinity of
Kermanshah are almost completely exhausted.
Speaking of the gum industry in the province of Pars, Lieutenant-
Colonel C. A. Kemball, in his report on the trade of the Persian Gulf
for the year 1900 (No. 2631 Annual Series), says : <( It appears that the
peasantry, employed in the collection of the tmgacanth, work in a reckless
manner, causing much damage to the plants, which are burnt down, after
(before) incision, to such an extent as to render the same field unproductive
for some years to come. Though the tragacanth fields are numerous and
extensive, they will not be able to withstand the wholesale depredations
which are now being perpetrated on them, unless the Persian Government
undertakes their supervision with a view to maintaining and improving
the industry/’ What Lieutenant-Colonel C. A. Kemball says about Ears,
applies as well to Kermanshah, Luristan and Kurdistan.
The first quality of tragacanth gum of Fars is said to be equal to the
second quality of Kermanshah.
Exports to Baghdad amounted this year to 1,496 kharvars, against 1,410
kharvars last year,
I am assured that for every 3 maunds exported to Baghdad 1 maund is
exported to Russia, via Reskt or Tabriz,
Of the gum exported from Kermanshah to Baghdad, about seven-eights
goes to London, one-sixteenth to France and one-sixteenth to Germany.