fg6 



tHfi TROt>ICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Sept. i, 1.8S6, 



perties; it is a health Ktimultmt, au excellent brain- 

 feeder, a wonderful restorer of faded energies and of 

 exliausted nerve-power. It is a preventive to gout 

 rnd rheumatism. To those engaged in heavy intel- 

 lictual labour it gives renewpfl ruergy. It is a veritablf^ 

 Elixir of Life. As a diuretic it is unrivalled, and it 

 imparts a purity to the blood.'' 



If the general" use of the "Vagona" should be the 

 only result of the T'^xhibition, it will finally have 

 fulfilled a great missio" ! 



A little HmuHiook to I'lji and C<iiolo(jve of the Exhihitf 

 has been issued under the authority of the Executive 

 Ocmraissioner, the Hon. James E. Mason, M.L.O., 

 and this contains some interesting facts on the 

 culture of the Coconut, Cinchona, Coffee, ' otton, 

 Sut;ar, Tea, Tobacco, &c. Of the latter we are told 

 that though it flourishes in all the islands of Fiji, 

 it is most largely cultivated, and reaches its greatest 

 perfection in the "Colo," or highland provinces of 

 Viti Lerii, the largest island of the group. All 

 sorts of Tobacco seed have been grown, including 

 \'irginia and Latakia. The natives smoke their tobacco 

 rolled up into " saluka " or cigarettes, the wrapper 

 used being the dry leaf of the Plantain. Connoisseurs 

 are very particular in the choice of their wrappers, 

 and will only use the leaves of cer'ain sorts of 

 Plantains. Tobacco is an important iota of native 

 life. Without it and kava no important discussion 

 can be conducted. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



DRUGS AT THE COLONIAL AND INDL\N 

 EXHIBITION. 



N(rrth Borneo. 



The collections of articles contributed by Briti.sh 

 North Borneo are to a certain extent similar to those 

 from the Straits Settlements. The chief products of 

 the colony consist of valuable timbers, gutta-percha, 

 india-rubber, Borueo camphor, edible birds' nests, 

 sago, pepper, gambier and tobacco. 



One of the timbers, named " billian,' is remarkable, 

 besides its durability and great strength, for being 

 proof against the teredo or sea worm, a property that 

 suggests the desirability of a chemical examination 

 of the wood with a view to determine the nature of 

 the constituent which proves obnoxious to these 

 animals. It is perhaps still more valuable on account 

 of being proof against the ravages of the white ant. 

 Another timber called " kungas " is also not attacked 

 by these insects. A third, known as '-lakar^wood 

 is a dark-red marbled and extremely hard wood, 

 which gives off a fragrant odour when burned, and 

 when scraped or rasped is used as au ingredient iu 

 incense; it is also employed as an astringent in 

 medicine and for tanning fish nets. According to Pro- 

 fessor van Eaden this wood is the produce of iJalhcroia 

 ZoUingeriann, Miq. It is valued in Borueo at Gs. per 

 picul, and in Singapore at 4s. per picul. The bark 

 of the "Russack" tree {Vatica Ri'-isacl-). which is 

 added to toddy, to make it intoxicating, is one of the 

 few barks exhibited. It is remarkable that a species 

 of the same genua is used in Ceylon for a similar 

 purpose. Under the name of "cbindana," probably a 

 corruption of the Hindoo "chandana." a handsome, 

 yellowish, fragrant wood is shown, which might per- 

 haps afford a volatile oil. It does not appear to ha^e 

 been botanieally identified. A considerable quantitj- 

 of mangrove bark forms a conspicuous obiect of the 

 exhibit and perhaps deserves the ijromineuce given 

 to it, for according to an analysis of the bark made 

 by IMr. AV. W. Evans, of Bristol, since the Exhibition 

 has been opened, it affords 41-398 per cent, of tannin. 



Some very fine specimens of " dammar mata 

 kuching" and of copal are shown, and several kinds 

 of gutta-percha and india-rubber, including " gutta 

 merah," "gutta hilang," or "elong," " gutta menoun," 

 jtnd " gutta liceak '' (india-rubber). 



Borneau gutta-percha and india-rubber, like those of 

 Perak, are mi.xed articles. Thus, Mr. Burbidge states* : — 



"That from the Larvas district is formed of the 

 mixed sap of at least five species, the juice of licics 



* ' The Gardens^oTthe Sun,' pp. 75-76, 



and one or two species of Artocarpux being not un- 

 frequently used iu addition as adulterants. The Bor- 

 nean "gutta soosoo " or rubber, again, is mixed sap 

 of three species of H'iUoiu/hheia, and here also the 

 milk of two or three other plants is a Ided surrepti- 

 tiously to augment the quality collected." 



Mr. Burbidge further remarks that although the 

 demand for caoutchouc from Borneo is a recent one, 

 yet in many districts the supply is practically ex- 

 hausted. He advLses that the fl'illoui/hbeJu, which 

 grows quickly and may be easily and rapidly in- 

 creased by vegitative as well as seminal modes of 

 propagation, should receive the attention of the 

 Government in India, where the plant might be 

 expected to thrive. 



Very little appears to be known concerning the 

 trees which afford the gutta and caoutchouc of 

 North Borneo, and in the ' Kew Report ' for 1886 

 the Director exjiresses a hope that the North Borneo 

 Company will employ a competent botanist to in- 

 vestigate the sabject and to collect good specimens 

 in flower and fruit of every tree yielding a product 

 of commercial value, as it is to the interest of the 

 Company to ascertain definitely the extent of tlie 

 gutta-percha and india-rubber resources of th*; island, 

 and how existing supplies may be best developed 

 anil husbanded,* since the same wasteful method i>f 

 collecting gutta-perclia that obtains in Perak seems 

 to be followed also in Borneo. 



In connection with these remarks it may be well 

 to call attention to a very valuable paper by Mr. 

 Leonard Wray on the great loss of gutta-percha 

 resulting from the wasteful mode of extraction at 

 present employed.f In some experiments made on 

 the bark of a tree of " getah taban simpor " {Payena 

 Maiiufoi/i) (see p. 5) from which gutta had been ex- 

 tracted, he found that the wet ba^k which is now 

 allowed to rot in the jungle contains fully 5' 7 per 

 cent, of gutta-percha, or 1I"4 per cent, when drj', 

 and that by simple pounding or rasping and boiling 

 the bark nearly all this gutia cau be extracted. He 

 calculates that, accepting the estimate of the export 

 of gutta from the Straits Settlem?nts and Peninsula 

 as 10,000,000 lb. weight in 1875 the amount of 

 gutta-percha lost to commerce, in the bark of 

 felled trees, must have amounted in that year to 

 no less than oOO,OUO,000 lb., putting the price at 

 2s. (jd. per lb. to not less than £37,500,000. In 

 otiier words, for every pound of gutta-percha col- 

 lected 30 lb. are wasted. The gutta trees are of 

 such slow growth that the tree planted in one 

 generation cannot be expected to yield good gutta 

 until the next, and according to Mr. "Wray one- 

 thirtieth of the number of trees that are at present 

 felled could be .«;aved.j 



The miujuk (i.e., oil of) tangkawaug, a solid fat 

 with a low melting point and which does not readily 

 become rancid, is shown in sitn in the bamboos in 

 which it is moulded. There are 'two kinds of the.se 

 fats, one of which is nearly white and used for 

 culinary purposes, such as frying fish, making cakes, 

 etc., and the other is of a greenish tint and is used 

 for lubricating machinery and for purposes of illumin- 

 ation. The former is said to be derived from large 

 seeds, probably those of Hopea macrophylla, and is 

 known as tangkawang lingis. The green fat is pre- 

 pared from smaller seeds, probably those of another 

 species of Hopea and is distinguished as tangkawang 

 mahjor or miujak kerapoh. A fuller .account of these 

 fats was given in a former number of thi.s Journal. § 



Two products, which also occur in the Straits 

 Settlements' collection, viz , Borneo camphor and 

 edible swallows' nests, can be more appropriately 



* Kew Report, IS81, p. 44. 



■\ .Journul of the Strtiits Branch of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, 1884,' p. 219. 



this 

 ery 



\ An attempt wa.- made to carry out a project of t 

 k)nd,?onie twenty years ago, in British Guiana. A v 

 large outlay was made for the purpose, but the result was 

 total failure, the extract obtained consisting chiefly of 

 astringent materia) with very Httle gum. 



^ See Phnrm. Jonm., [3], xiv., pp. 401, 481, 



