280 



H E TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1884. 



If the tallow is intended for culinary purposes it must 

 be strained. 



After the first pressing, the rattan-bag is taken out of 

 the press, the meal that is in it, well shaken, and replaced 

 with the topside under. After a second pressing all the 

 f at«is far from being expressed, and therefore the pressed 

 meal is sifted, the finer part thrown aside and the coarser 

 is again pounded, seethed and pressed. Three or four persons 

 can seethe and press about 3 piculs of meal in one day. 

 It is evident that after this operation there must still 

 remain some fat in the refuse, that is thrown away here, 

 and that one working with better appliances will get from 

 the same quantity of paddi more fat than the Native. 



The paddi tengkawang differs considerably in weight and 

 proportion of fat. The heaviest and richest is that produced 

 from sound fruit that have not germinated, and have lain 

 30 a 40 days in the water. Such paddi tengkawang weighs 

 3 piculs per 100 gantangs, and yields 120 katties of tailow. 

 The tallow of the tengkawang fruits that were either not 

 sound, or partially germinated, or have not been steeped 

 long enough, is lighter, so that the weight of 100 gantangs 

 of the paddi varies from 230 to 300 kattis, but amounts 

 on an average to 270 a 2S0 kattis. From this inferior 

 miiijak is also obtained. 



The proportion of tallow in the four sorts of tengkawang 

 proper is about equal, provided the fruit be properly treated. 

 Now, however, we have seen that the fruit of tho t. lajar 

 often lie on the ground till they germinate, which has an 

 injurious effect on the quantity of fat. This paddi is mostly 

 mixed with that of the t. rambei, and an equal weight 

 of this mixture yields less tallow than the same weight 

 of good paddi of the t. toengkoel. 



We have now considered how the paddi and minjak 

 tengkawang are prepared, and we shall have something to 

 say further on about their importance in commerce. For 

 the present we will return to the madjau and merhhtk 

 mentioned above. 



These trees grow wild, by preference along the banks 

 of smaller rivers in marshy ground, but are also found 

 occassionally further up from the banks. People do not 

 plant them. 



They are big trees like the tengkawaugs proper, but their 

 wood is more durable, and they do not perish from 

 inundations. The madjau,-v?OQ<l is made into sampans fa sort 

 of craft) and planks, while the terindak wood, which is 

 heavier than water and much resembles the favourite tekem- 

 wood, is applied to manifold purposes. It is hard and proof 

 against damp. 



The fruits are of almost the same shape as those of the 

 tengkawaugs proper, but are much smaller; those of the 

 madjau are about au inch thick, those of the terindak are 

 of the size of a coffee berry. 



Both these trees do not, indeed, bear every year, but 

 yet more frequently than the tengkawaugs proper. In the 

 years when these produce fruit, little trouble is taken to 

 gather them. As the trees generally hang over the water, 

 a part of the fruit fall into it and float away till they 

 are stopped by some obstacle or other; here they collect 

 into a heap and are scooped up by the Natives. The fruits 

 of the two sorts are thus commonly mixed up together. 



The fruit that fall on the ground are allowed to remain 

 there in the tengkawang years, but when the tengkawang 

 proper does not bear they are collected. The underwood 

 is first cut away and all the leaves removed to as to leave 

 the ground quite clean. As the fruit are too small to 

 pick them up one by one, they are not gathered every day, 

 but only when a sufficient quantity has fallen to sweep 

 them together. Thus the fruit have often partly germinated, 

 which is injurious to the produce. 



The fruit are then also* steeped in water, either for a 

 longer or shorter time according as they have germinated 

 or not. The wet fruit being first dried, the shells with 

 their appendages are loosened by stirring and pinching them 

 well in a hakoel (a kind of basket) with the hand, and then 

 removed by sifting or winnowing. 



The paddi of these sorts is treated in the same manner 

 as the tengkawang proper to get the tallow from it. 



The proportion of tallow in the paddi of madjau and 



terindak is much smaller than that of the paddi of the 



tengkawang proper, and may be computed at about one-sixth 



of its weight only. 



If the madjau aud terindak are worked separately, and 



the fruit be not allowed to germinate, the tallow obtained 

 is of a very good quality, but always softer and of less 

 value than that of the teugkawangs proper. Madjau tallow 

 is of a lighter colour, terindak tallow greener. 



Of old the tengkawang tallow was used by the Natives 

 for lighting, further mixed with resin, for calking vessels, 

 and lastly as a condiment with rice, or for prepariug condi- 

 ments. The fat required for this last purpose every one 

 used to make tor himself as much as possible, and employed 

 the best fruit, which were carefully treated. The fat of 

 the madjau and terindak is not fit to eat. 



As the demand for the tallow increased, people began 

 to adulterate what was intended for exportation. 



It is a lamentable fact that traders of these countries 

 are so apt to bring adulterated and sophisticated productions 

 to the market. Nor has tengkawang tallow escaped their 

 inventiveness in this way; powdered earth-fruit and water 

 was mixed up with it. The tallow when still fluid can bear 

 one-third of its volume of water being mixed with it, without 

 its being easily perceptible when solidified, unless in burning, 

 for then it will splutter. The delicate yellow colour is in- 

 deed lost by such a commixture, but this can be restored 

 more or less by several artificial means. 



The tallow that was exported used to be made either 

 entirely of the paddi of t. toengkoel, that is kept aud worked 

 separately, or else of a mixture of different tallows from 

 the t. lajar and t. ramhei, and sometimes also of madjau and 

 terindak. An examination into the physical and chemical 

 properties of the tallows could, therefore, never lead to 

 definite results. To be able to do this properly, it would 

 be necessary to buy up a certain quantity of each sort at 

 the time of the gathering and to work these separately. 

 Upon to the year 1878 it remained a regular thing to 

 export the tallow. It was bought up here for $6 a $1 per 

 picul, whereas the price of the paddi tengkawang amounted 

 to $4 a $7 per 100 gatangs. 



In the said year, however, a complete revolution took 

 place in the tengkawang trade. Sundry Chinese began then 

 to buy up the paddi tengkawang, and thence the price of 

 this article rose to slO the 100 gantangs, or about $3"50 

 per picul; however, the greatest quantity was bought up 

 for less, and disposed of with great profit by the purchaser 

 at Singapore. This fact soon became known, and the price 

 of the paddi tengkawang of such a nature, that the pre- 

 paration of the tallow for private use could no longer yield 

 any profit, and every one therefore was eager to sell it. 

 Add to this that the Native began to feel the want of 

 the tallow less, retroleum as a lighting oil had already 

 superceded it in a great measure; alsococos, cocos-oil and 

 other ingredients for culinary purposes had become of easier 

 acquisition than formerly, and had partly rendered the 

 use of tengkawang tallow for that purpose superfluous. 

 So the want of this talluw for the native household was 

 very much diminished, and this was an additional reason 

 for the Native to be eager to sell his tengkawang. 



In 1878, I believe, only paddi tengkawang was exported 

 from the Kapoeas territory which was duly prepared after 

 the wet system. The converting of this to tallow aud 

 other matters by European industry must therefore have 

 yielded good results. 



Not till this year did the trees bear again. 

 Allured by the profits obtained by some in 1878, a fierce 

 contention took place among the different Chinese and 

 Malay traders, as to who should first buy up the greatest 

 quantity of paddi tengkawang; and the consequence was 

 that the price rose to s4 per picul. 



The price of paddi madjau and paddi terindak, however, 

 was, as formerly, lower than that of the tengkawang proper. 

 This paddi is also less exported. 



The natives seeing that the purchasers attend less to 

 the quality, and hearing that the paddi after the dry 

 system produced as much in the Landak, began to slight 

 the process. Some allowed the fruits to remain but a 

 very short time in the water, say 8 or 10 days, and dried 

 them at ouce; such paddi must therefore be sooner infested 

 by the boeboek. Several sorts were mixed up together and 

 even with paddi oi madjau and terindak) even the paddi that 

 was far from being sufficiently dried was bought, and put 

 into r/oeme-bags — the ordinary way of packing; no wonder 

 that the product arrived half rotten at Singapore. Nor 

 could the Malayan resist the temptation to adulterate, and he 

 mixed his paddi here and there with worthless wild fruits. 



