t to Tamarida and
Colliseah, the principal town and harbor for exports. In 1833, the
best quality sold for 2s. a pound, while for the more indifferent the
price was 13d. The value is much impaired by the careless manner in
which the aloes is gathered and packed. Aloes once formed the staple
of its traffic, for which it was chiefly resorted to; but only small
quantities are now exported. It was formerly shipped by the way of
Smyrna and Alexandria, but is usually now brought by the way of
Bombay; Melinda, on the Zanzibar coast, and Maccula on the Arabian
shore, furnish the greater part of that sold in Europe as Socotrine
aloes. It comes home in chests or packages of 150 to 200 lbs. wrapt in
skins of the gazelle, sometimes in casks holding half a ton or more.
It is somewhat transparent, of a garnet or yellowish red color. The
smell is not very unpleasant, approaching to myrrh. Socotrine aloes,
although long considered the best kind, is now below Barbados aloes in
commercial value.

About two tons were imported from Socotra in 1833, but a much larger
quantity could be obtained if required.

The price of Socotrine aloes in the Liverpool market, in the early
part of 1853, was 30s. to L6 the cwt.; of Cape, 30s. to 32s.

_East Indian_, or _Hepatic aloes_.-- The real hepatic aloes, so called
from its liver color, is believed to be the produce of _A. Arabica_,
or _perfoliala_, which grows in Yemen in Arabia, from whence it is
exported by the way of Bombay to Europe. According to Dr. Thomson and
the "Materia Medica," it is duller in its color than the other kinds,
is bitterer, and has a less pleasant aroma than the Socotrine aloes.
It should not be liquid, which deteriorates the quality.

_A. Indica_--a species with reddish flowers, common in dry situations,
in the north-west provinces of India, is that from which an inferior
sort of the drug is produced. It is obtained in Guzerat, Salem, and
Trichinopoly, and fetches a local price of 2d. to 3d. a pound. In the
Bombay market, Socotrine aloes fetches wholesale 16s. to 20s. the
Surat maund of 41 lbs., and Maccula aloes only 9s.

_Barbados aloes_, is the produce of _A. vulgaris_, or _A.
barbadensis_, a native of the Cape colony, and is often passed off for
the Hepatic. It is brought home in calabashes, or large gourd shells,
containing from 60 to 70 lbs. each, or more. It is duskier in hue than
the East Indian species, being a darkish brown or black, and the taste
is more nause