556 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1884. 



Verhenaeenc (II. 857). — Abounding in good and available 

 woods, also some medicinal plunts. 



At the head stands of course the Javanese Djati, Tec- 

 tona grandis (II. 900), a sort, covered, according to local 

 iutlueuces, especially the quality of the soil — with fine, 

 coarse, lime-crystals, soft or hard fibre; hora-djati (djati 

 :ioen(jaiJy oi^-djati {djati lenga or minjafc), lime-djati (djati 

 kapoer) etc.* 



Then the I'ltex, of which the J'itex leucorylon, puhes- 

 cens and punctata (II. 863, 864). Kajoe arak furnish ex- 

 cellent wood for household use, and charcoal, taban and 

 gofaisa for the building of houses and ships and appurt- 

 enances, as masts, sloops, oars, etc. ; the higoendi^ Vit. 

 trifoliata (II. 295), a medicine used also by Europeans, 

 especially for infantine diseases, and a few others. 



Lastly the Aviceunio-s (II. 911), among which the Kajaoet 

 api p, for fine charcoal, and mangi p poetik for smaller 

 oojects. 



Cordiaceae {II. 913). — Also good kinds of wood as the 

 Kendal of Java Cordia bantaynensis (11.917), and sal a modi 

 of the Moluccas and N. Celebes, the pramasada of Java 

 {Cordia subcordata^ II. 914), Dot abundant, but one of the 

 best woods that India possesses for furniture, in larger 

 dimensions for house-posts and waterworks, etc. In Su- 

 matra partly supplanted by the smaller noenang (C snb- 

 dentatuj Miq., e. g. Sumatra, 244). 



Labiatae (II. 934). — Sundry spicy productions and medi- 

 cinal, such as the Ocimwi hasilicum. gratissimum and 

 sanctum, daoen selassi (II. 937) also of some repute among 

 Europeans, and the not unsavoury Javan potato, kenting 

 djawa or koeinili {Lolsne tabero.^us (II. 953). 



Sapotaceae (II. 1,033). — One of tue most remarkable 

 families of plants of the whole Archipelago, less for their 

 woods, none of which are of &ny great importance than 

 for their flowers, edible fruits and seeds, oils, and especi- 

 ally for their milky juices. Foremost stands of course the 

 geti'h-pertjn, Isonandra yutta fll. 1,03S) the getah taban 

 (sometimes but wrongly called getah toehan) as 1st sort; 

 then the getah-pertja proper of E. Sumatra, on Borneo's 

 west coast njato doerian as 2nd sort, and from the same 

 region, but more southerly, the getah girek as 3rd sort. 

 Among the natives the Eajak name njato, the Sumatran 

 bidam ; the appellation getah-pertja, Sumatran gum-resin, 

 was introduced by commerce in order to have a distinct 

 pame for Europeans, but it is, as we said before, vague. 

 Inferior sorts come from the east coast of Borneo and 

 |)erhap8 the west coast of Celebes, by Mangkasar also lo 

 Singapore, the centre of the trade in this article ; the 

 getah-pertja of the east coast of Celebes begins also to 

 become more known. (Tijds. v. N. 1877, p. 120, 1883, p, 

 75.) 



The oil of the fruit of the Isonandra gutta, now almost 

 extinct by the wanton destruction of the trees, was for- 

 merly much used and was in some measure an article of 

 commerce. 



A substitute for the getah-pertja, still furnished as such, 

 but which is deserving of attention on its own merits, is 

 the balnm tandoek of Sumatra, from the Ceratophorus Leejii 

 (II. 1.043), also as Sapotacea. Attempts to extract from 

 the SaiLoe manila, the sapotille {Achra^ sapota; 11.1,035), 

 a substitute for getah-pertja, failed ; probably only tem- 

 porarily, for the elements are present. The fruit is one 

 of the most savoury of India. 



The Javan Cacosituintkus inacrophglbts (II. 1.040) fur- 

 nishes a remarkable product, the karet-moending, somewhat 

 like Indiarubber, but more approaching the aetah-pertja, 

 and which has likewise found its way into the market. 

 The Miinusops Elengi (II. 1,042) gives the favourite 

 odoriferous tandjong-^o'vieT^, so assiduously collected ; an- 

 other, Mim. kauki (II. 1,042) the beautiful wood kajoe 

 saivoe, so much used for household furniture. 



The iSiderojyhn nitidum ill. 1,037 gives the Javanese 

 ironicood, Kajoe bessif), hard, durable, and used for house 

 building and partly for ship building. In "West Java the 

 tree is called njaloe. 



• Vide Glass 20, lett. D. Forest-crdture, where the Djati 

 is amply treated. 



t The appellation ** jrouwood,"' applied to some other 

 sorts, has become rather vague, and is besides very little 

 used by the natives, who have a special name for every 

 sort. 



Ebcnaceae (il. 1,043). — The Ebenaeeae, Uke their next in 

 kin, the Sapotaceae, have not yet been sufficiently ex- 

 amined; they furnish, like the latter, all kinds of pro- 

 ducts to the native trade; this family has. however, sorts 

 of woods which we know only by name ; also some edible 

 fruits. 



Besides the black ebony, Kajoe arang, Maha ebenus (II. 

 1,051), obtained in considerable quantities from North 

 Celebes and the AVestern Moluccas, and sfut r-specially 

 via Manilla to China, a light and a dark-brown figured 

 sort, occurs najoe ipU, which is highly valued.* 



Akin to this is in Java the Kajoe merak, peacock-tree 

 {Leucoxi/hu bvxifo'h'm ; II. 1,050), giving a wood, which 

 young is very bad, but old excellent. Further there de- 

 serve to be mentioned the Javan kleedong, a good wocd, 

 Diospyros spec? (II. 1,044) melanoxylon (?), fruit edible 

 and much preserved, and Hdara goenoeng spec (?), Diosp. 

 heterophylia (?). 



Gnetaceae (II. 1,966;. — Among the Ggmnospermas the 

 Qneiactae come first in consideration in our review, especi- 

 ally the gancmo (Moluc.) Koefan {M&ngk.) garintoel (Jav.) 

 tangkil (Sound), manindjot {^l&X.), the Gnetn.m gnemon {\1. 

 1,<'67), with a fibre used largely in Java and Sumatra, 

 but less in the E. part of our Archipelago, which is used 

 for nets and then tanned with >• ejoe, obtained irom a not 

 well-defined Sponia {timorensis, amboinensis 12. 124 (?) 

 very nearly allied to the Javanese anggring Sponia velu- 

 tina)', an excellent tan, as yet overlooked by our Euro- 

 pean commerce and intlustry. Other Gnetum sorts yield 

 good fibre and edible fruits besides. 



Abittinoe (II. 1,068. — One ot the best sorts of damav' 

 resin, the d<imar poetih, nhite damar, much ex})orted from 

 the Moluccas, via Mangkara and Singapore to England, 

 lately also to Netherlaud, comes from the Dammara aHm 

 (II. 1.070 1. The native trade provides the Javan Cottou- 

 dyeries, etc., with them the damar cannot be dispensed 

 with in *' batikking." 



Podocarpeoe ill. 1,070). — To this family we owe the 

 heavy kihima of West Java {Podocarpus LatifoHa, II. 1,071), 

 used forbiulding purposes in posts and planks, the ki-n,'-rak 

 Ukewise sought for posts, etc., from the same regions {Fod. 

 spec, div.), the fine Kajoe poetri, princess-wood iPnd.oc. 

 cnpressina ; II. 1,071), also much in demand; it furnishes 

 Japan also with some of the finest woods. 



Palmae III 1). — AVe can hardly consider the productions 

 of the very extensive group of Palms, so various in nature 

 that Mi'p'tl classes them in a sub-division of his Flora, 

 as vine sago, farinaceous, fnn't-bearing, wood and rattan 

 palms (he might have added Jihre-\>VL\ms, e.g., Livistona,) 

 any longer as forost-productions ; though the aren-palms, 

 in some places, in accordance with ancient tradition, not 

 planted (this is left to the care of Joeiraks — Paradoxura» 

 trivirqatus and other birds — that delight in their fruits, 

 and disseminate the kernels in and with their excrements), 

 but found everywhere ; the rotan still collected in the for- 

 ests, and some others. Their products are, besides, pretty 

 generally known, and therefore an enumeration of a few 

 of the principal productions will suffice here. 



At the head stands, of course, the cocos-pahn (klapper^ 

 from kalapa, kramhil), the cocos nvcifera (III. 64), indis- 

 pensable in domestic use, and the oil of which, abounding 

 in stearine, is furnished in great quantities to the Eiurop- 

 ean marts. Then, an important article of comm-irce, t}ie 

 sago oi several mttroxylf<n-^OTis (III. 139), kirai, etc.; 

 further of the areng-pahn {Arengn tacchartfern ; W\. 35), 

 gebaiuf {Corypha umhraadifera; III. 49). SoewaiiKoeng Car- 

 gota maxima; III. 39), etc. The general name of the 

 gluten furnished by them is srigot, or in Javanese pati, 

 but some species received sperate names ; so the sago of 

 the rt;'eny-palm is called in Java '^ Ongkok." 



Of the Arecas we must distinguish the A rera-Catechv 

 (III. 8), from which a matter is extracted rich in tannic 

 acid, and brought into commerce; one of the inferior 



* Not to be confounded with the Ipil-wood of the Phil- 

 ippines designated there as Eperna faU-ata (?). The wood 

 is very durable. dark-l)rown, equal, and not variegated like 

 Menado and Batjan ipU. In the Moluccas occurs the Adt^i- 

 anthera falcate, the Kajoe Salowako, a wood of which 

 shields are made. Whether the definition is correct remains 

 here undecided. The Surinam Ujlhottt was ^reliably defined 

 as Eperna falcata. 



