In some countries millet _seed_ is ground into flour and converted into bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other respects as food, and is an excellent seed for the fattening of poultry. A good vinegar has been made from it, by fermentation; and, on distillation, it yields a strong spirit. Millet seed is imported into this country from the East Indies, for the purpose chiefly of puddings; and, by many persons, it is preferred to rice. The _stalks_ of the millet plant, if subjected to the same process that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, from which an excellent kind of sugar may be made. 273. _GUM ARABIC is a well-known drug, obtained from a tree_ (Mimosa nilotica) _which grows in Egypt._ _This tree has leaves doubly winged, with spines at the base, and small flowers, of globular shape, growing four or five together on slender footstalks._ The principal supply of gum arabic in this country is obtained from Barbary, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf. The average quantity imported from the Persian Gulf, betwixt 1804 and 1808, was about 7500 hundred weight per annum, and the price for which it was vended at the East India Company's sales was about 3_l._ per hundred weight. It used formerly to be packed in skins, but it is now brought in large casks. The trees which yield it grow abundantly in numerous parts of Africa and Asia, but the gum does not freely exude from them except in tropical regions. It issues from clefts in the bark, in the same manner as the gum of the cherry and plum trees of our orchards and gardens: and, by exposure to the air, it soon becomes hard and solid. We are informed that, in some parts of Egypt, the inhabitants procure this gum, by boiling pieces of the roots of the trees, and afterwards separating it from the water. We receive gum arabic in small irregular masses, or rough pieces, of pale yellowish colour, and roundish shape. It is, however, to be remarked, that, by far the greatest part of the gum which is sold in the shops under this name is not such, but is the production of another species of tree (_Mimosa Senegal_), and is properly called _gum Senegal_, The latter is imported from Senegal, Guinea, and other parts of Africa. It is generally seen in large rough pieces, of roundish figure, and brownish hue, more or less pure; possesses similar properties to the other, and is much cheaper. On account of their mucilaginous qualities, these two kinds of gum, under the name of gum arabic, were formerly used for several purposes in medicine; and, in coughs and hoarsenesses, were considered of great service. They are now principally in request by the manufacturers of water-colours; by dyers, and artificers of different kinds. In Africa the latter constitutes a principal ingredient in the food of the inhabitants. They sometimes dissolve it in milk: and this solution of it is esteemed a favourite repast by some of the tribes.