"Desert Gold". Seven-eights of the world's supply of Gum Arabic - used as the adhesive on postage stamps, envelopes, lables etc., as well as for medicinal purposes and certain types of confectionary - is produced in the Sudan where for- 200 years it has been the most important export. Only in the last 20 years has it boon topped by cotton as to Sudan's most valuable product. These pictures show various stages in the production of Gum Arabic called "Desert Gold" - for, from the making of incisions in the bark of the acacia tree to its marketing locally ready for transport -and shipment to various parts of the world, to the extent of 15-20 thousand tons annually, it is valued at nearly one million pounds sterling. September 01, 1951. (Photo by British Official Photograph).