BOTANICAL INFORMATION. . 35... 
being easily injured by damp and hot weather in the Tropics. 
The Medical Board of Calcutta highly approved of Dr. Ms 
suggestion, and the Society of Arts in London awarded him 
its Gold Medal for the discovery. 
Illness’ prevented Dr. M. at that period from visiting 
the forests where the tree grows. He, however, ascer- 
tained from the natives that the Pereha is, one of their 
largest trees, attaining a diameter of 3 or 4 feet, that its 
wood is of no value as timber, but that a concrete. and 
edible oil, used by the natives with their food, is obtainable 
from the fruit. In many parts of the island of Singapore 
and in the forests of Johore, at the extremity of the Malayan 
peninsula, the tree is found: it was also said to grow at Coti, 
on the south-eastern coast of Borneo, and Dr. Montgomerie 
accordingly addressed his inquiries to the celebrated Mr. 
Brooke, resident at Sarawak, and was assured by that 
gentleman that it inhabits commonly the woods there also, 
and is called Niato by the people, who are not, however, 
acquainted with the properties of the sap. The tree is often 
6 feet in diameter at Sarawak, and is believed by Mr. Brooke. 
to be plentiful all over Borneo, and probably on the thou- 
sand islands that cluster to the south of the Straits. of 
Singapore. Its frequency is proved by the circumstance, — 
that several. hundred tons of the Gutta Percha have been — 
annually exported from Singapore since 1842, when the - 
substance first came into notice. There is reason, however, 
to fear that the supply must shortly decrease, and the price 
be raised, from the wasteful mode in which the natives - 
collect it, often sacrificing a noble tree, of probably from 50 — 
to 100 years growth, for the sake of 20 or 30 lbs. of | 
gum, which is the largest quantity any one trunk ever : Z 
affords. The j juice might, in all likelihood, be obtained from 
p the Percha, as from other trees, by. tapping, and thus 
| procuring a smaller portion for several successive years  b 
this process is too slow for the Malayans, and i 
= Rua iiec s 
