'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎225] (234/568)

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 225
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Mfc ioinaiiulei' has gone to India, France, the United States, the Nether-
lands, and Egypt. The prices of galls in Baghdad were in 1912 as
Hi f ollows : bl ues, £10 os. to £10 10s. per kantar of 640^ lb.; whites,
ifetipil mixed, £9 5sto 10s. The amount of galls
exported from Basra, and including Baghdad, in 1910 was 7,616
bags, valued at £47,600, and in 1912, 24,355 bags, valued at £152,219.
| G value of the export of galls from Mosul has been usually from
sfc £'0,000 to £80,000 annually; in 1912 it amounted to £80,000.
ikkj From Diarbekr there was an export of valonia valued in 1910 at
£13,000, in 1912 at £30,000 ; this went to the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, and the interior. There is no export of galls
Wtik r< T J ^ r ^ ) ^ an *
&um 1 ragacantJi. —This substance is obtained from one of the
gum-bearing plants, and is used as a substitute for gum arable in
jf ^ ie making of medicines and other commodities. The better-class
gums are brought down from Persian Kurdistan, the province of
. Kinnauslmh, and from Luristan and the Bakhtiyari country; the
gums produced in the Mardln and Diarbekr districts of upper
Mesopotamia are of poor quality. At times the supply fails owing
to the unsettled state of the country and insecurity of the trade-
routes. In 1909 the shrub from which the gum is taken in the
Persian hills was said to be failing; good supplies, however, were
forthcoming in the succeeding years. The greater part of the export
of gum goes to London ; in 1913, 82 per cent, was sent from Baghdad
to this market, 12 per cent, to Germany, and the remainder to Egypt,
France, and America; in 1912 the average price at Baghdad was
£6 5s. per cwt. Arabistan gum goes partly to London, partly to
India. The gum exported from Baghdad in 1909 consisted of 640
cases and bags valued at £10,886, and in 1912, of 5,772 cases and
bags valued at £75,099. The export of gums from Arabistan was
!«» steadily increasing in value ; it was estimated in 1908-9 at £5,856,
i n 1912—13 at £14,811. The value of gums exported annually from
naiiii Diarbekr has varied between £2,000 in 1908 and £8,000 in 1913;
iif® these go to France, Germany, and the interior.
. Silk.—The export of silk is almost entirely from the Diarbekr
i. vii' vilayet. The country round Diarbekr lends itself particularly to
i: -ifc the cultivation of the mulberry-tree ; the water-supply is good, and
type; 0there has been a considerable increase, during recent years, in the
' • number of trees planted. Silk is exported in two forms, raw and
bat®!' 1 manufactured ; there is also an export of cocoons and cocoon waste;
■""i there is a good demand for raw silk from Aleppo and Damascus,
jtotW while manufactured silk is sent to Aleppo and Constantinople;
■tr's"'- cocoons are exported to France and Austria ; the export to France,
mes. i p