Makcm I, ib87.] THE TROPICAL AGRICCLTORIST. 



623 



THE JUNGLE PEODUCTS OF BORNEO. 

 Consul-General Leys, wriiiug ou the trade, com- 

 merce, and productious of North-West Borneo, says 

 that the chief articles of jungle produce, in which a 

 large export trade is earned ou, are gutta-percha, 

 india-rubber, rattans, and bird's nests. Gutta-percha 

 is the inspissated juice of tall forest trees belonging 

 to the natural order ISapetaceiV. Various kinds and 

 qualities of gutta are aff'trded by various sapotaceous 

 ta:ees, but the pure red Bornean gutta is yielded by 

 the species Bichopsis gutta. Other species of the genus 

 Dichopsis, however, yield guttas, which, being of in- 

 ferior quality, are frequently mixed by the native 

 collectors with the more valuable red variety. Tbis 

 red variety is obtained from red and rough-stemmed 

 trees, which are generally found growing among old 

 jungle on hill-sides to a height of from 100 to 150 

 feet. The following is the method employ t'd by the 

 natives in collecting the raw product : — On finding a 

 tree old enough to be cut, one having a diameter of 

 about twelve inches, they fell it, cut off the top, 

 and ring the bark at distances of about a foot. The 

 sap for two or three days gradually drains away, and 

 as it does so is collected in any convenient vessels, 

 such as leaves, coconut-shells, &c., from which re- 

 ceptacles it is transferred to a pot and boiled for the 

 space of half-an-hour with a little water. The milk 

 is boiled to prevent it from hardening on exposure to 

 the air, as if allowed to do so it becomes compara- 

 tively valueless. It is difhcult to estimate the average 

 yield of each tree, as the quantity varies according 

 to the size of the tree and time of the year, the 

 flow of sap being greatest when the tree is produc- 

 ing most leaves; but a small tree will generally yield 

 a quarter of a picul,i the picul being ecjuivalent to 133 lb. 

 avoirdupois, while the largest may yield as much as 

 three quarters of a picul each. The value of the red 

 gutta varies, according to its purity, from 40 dollars 

 to 80 dollars per picul. Another ^pecies of Dichopsis 

 yields an inferior gutta of a white colour. This 

 species has a smaller growth, attaining a height of 

 from 50 to 60 feet, and a slightly different foliage. 

 It yields • proportionately less gutta, only about 

 twenty-six pounds per tree. India-rubber, or caout- 

 chouc, is obtained from three varieties of rough- 

 stemmed woody climbers or manungann, which attain 

 a length of over 100 feet, and a thickness of about 

 eight inches. The juice is obtained in much the same 

 way as gutta, and is prepared either by boiling like 

 gutta, or by steeping in a solution of salt. The 

 wasteful method of collecting guttas and rubbers has 

 naturally caused an exhaustion of the supply from 

 the more accessible districts; the rubber trees are not, 

 however, so thoroughly exterminated as the gutta 

 trees, owing to the greater tendency of the former 

 to be reproduced from suckers, from cuttings of the 

 stem taking root accidentally, and from the fruit 

 which, being edible, is much sought after by monkeys, 

 birds, wild pigs, &c. Rattans, or canes, are the stems 

 of various species of Calami, which are found in 

 profusion througout the whole of North-West Borneo. 

 Birds' nests, well-known as the edible production of 

 the Indian swallows, are found principally iu the 

 Water-worn limestone and sandstone caves that exist 

 in considerable numbers all over the districts of 

 North-West Borneo, Consul-General Leys says, "al- 

 thoug highly esteemed by the Chinese as a luxury 

 in health, and as having curative qualities iu sick- 

 ness, I believe that these birds' nests have no more 

 nutritive or medicinal value than so much wholesome 

 isinglass, which substance they strongly resemble in 

 every way. Many very absurd theories have been 

 ttiooted as to the way in which the substance form- 

 ing the nest is procured by the bird. I am strongly 

 inclined to believe that it is formed from the saliva 

 of the birds — an opinion founded chiefly on the fact 

 that the saliva-producing glands are, during the nest- 

 ing season, always immcLsly enlarged, and evidently 

 in very unusual functional activity. When it is re- 

 membered that a viscid secretion usually found cover- 

 ing the inside of the mouth and the throat of birds 

 — living as the swallow does, on small insects caught 

 fvbile ou ih^ wiug^aoti tbat ib€ nature of tbeir food 



is peculiarly fitted to supply the .substance of which 

 the ue^t is chemically composed, and that the nest, 

 though strong, is very small, thin, and light, such a 

 theory is more probable than one would suppose.'' 

 It appears from the import and export returns of 

 Borneo for the year 1882, that the value of gutta- 

 percha and indiarubber exported during that year 

 amounted to £62,600, of rattans £21,500, and of 

 bird.s' nests £10,000. — Journal of the Society of Arts, 



SCIENTIFIC TEA MANUFACTURE. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE "HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL." 



Sib, — One of those strange coincidences has occurred, 

 by reason of which George Eliot was prompted to 

 suggest that vre might almost infer that at certain 

 periods new thoughts float about in the world's at- 

 mosphere and are attracted by brains favourable to 

 their reception in countries wide apart. The idea of 

 withering tea by means of cool dry air, and of em- 

 ploying comparatively cool dry air for drying tea, may 

 not be quite so novel as some interested are inclined 

 to believe. The practical application of the idea is, how- 

 ever, distinctly a novelty, and all credit is due to those 

 now attempting to introduce it to our factories. The 

 coincidence I have referred to consists in the fact 

 that two methods of arriving at the same end have 

 been launched upon as at precisely the same time, 

 one hailing from Boston, U.S.A., and the other from 

 Glasgow. That from Boston comes to tea planters 

 more by accident than intent ; whereas that from 

 Glasgow has been from its first conception devoted 

 to tea manufacture before all things. 



Mr. Jennings of Boston having found that the 

 " hot-air methods and the drying kiln have been tried 

 and given up as failures," that they " warped timber, 

 made the grain of leather harsh and rough, spoiled 

 the flavour of tea (!) and the colour of coffee, turned 

 rice yellow, and failed to save the farmers' grain" 

 in wet seasons, determined to discover a process which 

 should meet the requirements of dryers of all such 

 substances. He found the solution of his problem in 

 a "Cool Dry-air Process." The name completely ex- 

 plains the principle of his system. 



Mr. Jennings places the materials to be dried in a 

 chamber, through which a current of moderately warm 

 dry air is passed continuously, and he claims that 

 " the test of experience shows that air so deprived 

 of moisture acts as an absorbent in a manner that, 

 without such a test, would have been deemed im- 

 possible." In the first instance, the current is drawn 

 through a small furnace, in which it is heated to 

 about 600 degrees Fahr. At this temperature the at- 

 mosphere is said to be without trace of vapour. This, I 

 think, must depend upon whether the air has been 

 passed through a suflicient body of live fire to ensure 

 decomposition of the moisture, and upon this point 

 I have no information at present as regards Mr. Jen- 

 nings's system. After being heated, the desiccated air 

 " is cooled by a vigorous circulation of external air," 

 which lowers the temperature to between 80 degrees 

 and 90 degrees, and in this condition the desiccated 

 air is propelled by fans, driven by steam, through the 

 drying chambers, Within these chambers the tem- 

 perature is that of a hot summer's day, but the air 

 is said to be to " greedy " of moisture that every- 

 thing within its penetrative influence is desiccated, 

 I must assume, as I do not know for a fact, that 

 the " vigorous circulation of external air " is applied 

 without its being allowed to mix or come into absolute 

 contact with the heated air, otherwise the latter would 

 naturally again commence absorbing moisture from the 

 external air, and thus entail a waste. A machine 

 erected on this principle is working at Messrs. Smith's 

 extensive saw-mills, Commercial Road, Pimlico, and 

 there the practical operation of the system has shown 

 some results which are, if as reported, equally re- 

 markable from a scientific as from a commercial point 

 of view. I have seen it stated that at these saw- 

 mills a package of wool 1 lb. in weight was saturated 

 with water ; it then weighed oj lb., and in this 

 condition was placed in the dryingroom, and in 

 twenty minutes the moisture was found to be almobt 

 Virbolly extracted, Timber, as everybody knows, talseg 



