Partial acid hydrolysis of the gums from stems of Acacia podalyriaefolia and A. elata gives polymer mixtures, together with oligosaccharides and monosaccharides, which have been characterized by paper chromatography and by GLC of their derived glycitol acetates. The acid-degraded polymers have been shown by methylation, methanolysis and GLC assay to consist largely of galactopyranose units, present approximately equally as end-groups, 3,6-linked branch points, and chain units (3- and 6-linked). Their mol wt distribution patterns, like those of the original gums, have been shown to differ by molecular-sieve chromatography. © 1969.