Februart I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



SS7 



gpecies of gamhir catechu, or terra japonica. Whole ships' 

 load of the fruit, also of the shelled nut, are auuually 

 exported to China, a good deal to Bengal, both for siri- 

 chewing, and for the dyeing of cotton. The abov.'-men- 

 tioned klapa, areng-palm and oebang, besides the lontar or 

 sintdlawj (Borasks fiahdliforinis ; III. 45), yields the k'apper 

 or Java-sugar, formerly so much in reque.-t by the Europ- 

 ean trade, and still much used in European and Indian 

 households. 



The juice obtained by tapping from the cut stalks of 

 the drupe", from which these sugars are boiled, is drunk 

 also as toewak, sa/joweer, etc., either iresh or fermenteil, 

 sometimes infuseil with J;ajoe timor or other^trvchnaceae, 

 and in the Moluccas, especially iu Ambon, where the abuse 

 of this into.iicating and enervating b average is greatest, 

 is brought daily to all the passars in largo bamboo tubes 

 (lodonqs). 



After further fermentation this toetrah or sagoe weer, 

 produces the yeast, ragt, which is used everywhere for 

 bread, pastry, etc. Where this is net procurable, legeii is 

 used, which is obtained in the same manner from the 

 cocos-paliii (k/apper-tree) . 



The wood of the Cayt/otas, Arecas, Lividonias (III. 57); 

 sometimes the LicuaJu, wiroe (III. 54), is used to make 

 all kinds of smaller objects of daily use in hou.se building, 

 and even in hydraulic works, for posts, etc. The leaves 

 for thatching, for all kinds of domestic utensils, baskets, 

 etc. Finally, the fibre of a good many sorts finds a ready 

 application. 



The rotan, pandjalim from the Calamus, spec. div. (III. 

 10a), may stiil be called a complete forest-production. 

 Neither are the Palembang rotan, for pike-staves and 

 walking-sticks, nor tiiin cane of Bandjarma-ssin, used for 

 binding, chairs, etc., and mattuig, nor the rvpe-rotan of 

 Java, nor the twisted anchor- cables of the Moluccas, pro- 

 ductions of culture. They are an article of active com- 

 merce and export both to European and Indian commerce, 

 all the various sorts being much in request. 



In the matter of gum-resin, the Vaemoiwivp.i Draco (TH 

 95), also deuoniinated Calamus Draco, furnishes one of the 

 best species of drat/on's blond. Eumph's description (in 

 Amb. Kru.vdt-boek;' V. p. 114, tab. 58) of the rottang, 

 djernang, Palamt/ncus draco is, also for what he mentions 

 about the manner of preparing the dragon's blood, sanguis 

 draconis, still amply worth attention. Inferior sorts of 

 dragon.'! blood are obtained from the gebang, poetjoek, etc. 

 (Coriiphra umbraculifcra ; III. 4!>) and the wiroe {Licaala 

 speciabilis and spinosa ; III. 52). — Vide, however, Ptero- 

 carpus indicu$. 



Pandaneae (III. 152) — The Pandaneae, so nearly related 

 to the Palms, give as the most important product for com- 

 merce, fibre for mats; tiJcar, klasa, glaran. etc., oi all kinds 

 of sorts, some of them very fine, such as the tikars of the 

 Pand. samak or ketjil (III. 165). which are plaited of the 

 leaf-fibre. The young shoots of the Pand. odoratissimns 

 (III. 156), shred present at all passars, much sought for 

 in the interior, in great request on account of their odour, 

 must also bo mentioned here, 



Polgpodiaceae.—Oi these, though many of the genera are 

 now and then used by some local governments for house 

 building, the only sort to be noted as of any value in 

 commerce, is penawar-djamhee, of a couple of Cibotium 

 famous as a steptic. 



Aroidecte (III. 188), Cgperaceae (III. 250), Gramineae (III. 

 354), etc., have all partly fallen into regular culture, or 

 need not be mentioned here. M^hat the Musaceae (III. 

 oSB), Ilromcliaceae (III. 584), etc. yield iu usefid product, 

 is now obtained by regular cultivation, though they still 

 occur liesides and in good quantities in a wild state. The 

 same is the easj with the Agateae (III. 583), originally 

 not ev.'n indigenous, and therefore called by the natives 

 transmarine ananas sn.hrang. at present wildly spread iu a 

 wid state. The memlong and other Care.v-species (III. 340) 

 are here and there worked up into small objects, and furnish 

 fine pLiitwork; bamhno (111. 415) is still fetched in great 

 quantities from the woods, but quite identical with the 

 regularly cultivated sorts. So we may here terminate this 

 revii!vv, though rather reluctantly; the suliject is in many 

 details of far-stretc'.iing importance, but the limi'.s we had 

 set, to give a review of the ^^ Fore.'it-productions" did not 

 even allow the mere mention of many productions. 

 An enumeration, for each branch, of all the materials 



. for house and ship building, hydraulic works or household 



1 utensils, trade and industry, proved as good as impossible 



' within our hmited space, with the great changes going on 



in the use of local resources ; while besides many materials 



are made sul*servient in many localities to all the details 



of social and domestic subsistence. So there remained only 



to otter a slight, and as much as possible a connected 



sketch of those materials, which are collected within the 



limits of '^ Forest-productions," to meet the requin ments 



of social existence in those regions, and of trade and in- 



i dustry. 



'. Jlay the object^ — the illustration of the productions exhib- 

 ited — be attained, and this contribution, however slight and 

 superficial, serve as a stimulus to strive after a better know- 

 letl^''! of a number of the productions of oui" Archipelago, 

 which, more largely known, would find more application, 

 and this coutribute to the advantage of social e.xistence, 

 and the improvement and welfare both of our own country 

 and of her beautiful possessions. 



Il'e.it India. — West India, save a few little collected gum- 

 restiis, furnishes no torest-productions properly so-called, 

 and even the eminently good sorts of wood of the interior 

 remain restricted to local ase. and unregarded by com- 

 merce. The earlier attempts of our Croverument a.iii of 

 others to reduce it to a regular branch of tiade remained 

 unaccountably aborrive. Mr. H. A. Van der Speck Obreen, 

 Engineer-in-Chief of the Na^'y, gave a general tle.scriptiou 

 of the " Timbers of European Guyana " ; the " Tijds. voor 

 Staath. en Statistiek," VI. p. 495, has an article on " The 

 Wealth of the Surinam Forests in Cabinet-makers' woods"; 

 in which among the rest, the locust, green and yelloic-heart, 

 bebe, bolfetrie, axe-wovd, cedar, wane, kopie, krapa, peter- 

 woud and sage-u-ood are treated. The " Ned. Tijds. v. Nij- 

 verheid, 1877," give some informations concerning these ; 

 some other articles of Jhr. Van. Sijpesteijn, Focke and 

 others treated this su'ojeot ; we must refer the reader to 

 them, not to depart too far from our limits. 



The general impression concerning these woods was far 

 from being unanimouslv favourable, the cause of many 

 doubtful results was the u-ant of proper preparation, a con- 

 sequence of more general want 01 r«-sourcfs. especially of 

 labour, and in this respect the prospects are still rather 

 unfavourable. When once the means are discovered of 

 providing for this, then oiu- Guyana possesses an abund- 

 ant store for us in her Sylvan flora. The recently pub- 

 lished " Enumeration of the Surinam Plants and Cultiv- 

 ated Herbs, Trees and Woods,"* of Mr. Westevouen Van 

 Meeteren, just returned from Surinam, gave us again an 

 ample view of the field still to be explored, and pointed 

 out what remains still to be done. This treatise is depos- 

 ited at the exhibition. V.\n Musschf.xbeokk. 



[Without intending it we have been guilty of an over- 

 sight in mentioning the work, by understating the pages 

 of the voluminous work. The volume consists of 830 

 pages. — Ed.] — iTvlia Mercuny. 



VEGETABLE WOOL OR SILK-COTTON. 



BY .TAMILS COLLIN'S. 



In the Journal for September 28, 1883, p. n"2, there is 

 a note, taken from the .Moniteur des fds et tissus. rc.sj)ect- 

 ing a description of "Vegetable wool" from Java, ex- 

 hibited at the Amsterdam Exhibition, under the name of 

 Kapoc. ... 



Kapoc, or kapok, as it is more usually rendered, is a 

 I Malayan word, signifying cotton or a cotton-like substance. 

 I.e., silk-cotton; real" silk being knowu as sutra. A'npas is 

 also used in Malay for cotton or silk-cotton, the same 

 vernacul ir name obtaining in Bengalee and other dialects ; 

 but in this latter case the term is restricted to true cot- 

 ton plants (Gossi/pixim eps). Kapok silk-cotton is furnished 

 by the Eriodendron anfractvosuni DC. the Bomha.r pen- 

 Unidrum of Linnseas. The plant has been placed in various 

 natural orders, s.ime giving it a place in Bombace:e, others 

 iu Sterculiacea;, or in Malvaceas. The tree is from .'id to 

 60 feet in height, the trunk being prickly at the base, 

 and the branches growing out horizontally. There are five 

 to eight leaflets, lanceolate in shape, an 1 either entire in 



» This enumeration included some later, forniirly im- 

 noticed data, and contains on the whole 1,000 names among 

 which in 690 numbers, about 600 sorts. 



