ON QUTTA GAMBEER. gg7 



Bracteas four, ovate, acute, spreading very small, cadu- 

 cous. 

 Flowers aggregate, globular ; composed of very numerous 

 florets, crowded on a globular, uaked, very small re- 

 ceptacle. 

 .Cja.l. Pcrianthium common, none. 



Proper, one-leafed, oblong, incrusjing thcgcrmcn, per- 

 sistent ; mouth five-cleft, divisions lanceolate, erect. 

 Cox. as in the Genus. 



Stam. Filaments five, very short. Anthers oblong. 



Capsule stalked, oblong, incrusted and crowned with the 



calyx; tapering to a point below; two-celled, two- 



valvcd; the valves adhering at the apex, splitting at 



J.he skies. 



Seeds very numerous, oblong, very small, compressed, 



furnished at both ends with a membranous pappus. 

 The flowers, when fully spread, I suppose last a very 

 short time; for although I have frequently looked for them, 

 1 was never able to find them, whence I have been obliged 

 to omit the description of the pistil. 



From the leaves of this shrub is prepared the substance Method of pre- 

 called gutta gambeer, in two ways. The first is by boiling [ 5a ™ ,g £ he gut * 

 the leaves *. This process was performed under my inspec- 

 tion, by a Chinese, at Prince of Wales's Island. Seven 

 catties (or9ylbs.) of the leaves, plucked clean from the 

 stalks, were boiled in a large pot for one hour and a half, 

 adding more water as the first wasted, till towards the end 

 of the process, when it was inspissated to the consistence 

 of a very thin sirup. When taken oft* the fire, and al- 

 lowed to cool, it became solid. It was then cut into little 

 squares, which were dried in the sun, turning them fre- 

 quently. After one month, I weighed them, and found tea 

 ounces and two drachms, troy weight. 



The gambecr, prepared according to this process, is of a Another mode 

 brown colour ; but from some parts of the Malay coast, and of P re P arin g »*• 

 of Sumatra, it is brought in little round cakes almost per- 



* See Marsden's Sumatra, p. 243, — where he quotes, for a par- 

 ticular account of the manufacture, the second volume of tha 

 Transactions of the Batavian Society. 



fectlv 



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