BOTANY. 1S3 



WILD INDIGO. 



An indigenous shrub, a species of indigo, is sometimes 

 used in forming a blue dye. 

 Indigofera. 



JAMBO MORDANT. 



The bark of a species of eugenia is used as a mordant 

 for blue and black dyes. 



Eugenia Jambolana ? 



VARIOUS RED-DYE PLANTS, 



The rose-coloured fruit of the tamarind " yields a beau- 

 tiful deep red-colour, approaching purple"; the wood of the 

 Adenanthcra pavonia dyes red, and the wood of the black 

 varnish tree affords a red dje. 



SAPPAN WOOD. 



In the valley of the Tenasserim, between the latitudes 

 of Tavoy city and the mouth of Tavoy river, the 

 hills that border the valley on the eastern side abound 

 in sappan wood, which is used extensively as a red dye. 

 Considerable quantities are exported every year from 

 Mergui, and that province is usually supposed to contain 

 the tree, though it is really within the province of Tavoy ; 

 but the facility of water communication from the interior 

 to Mergui, makes that the only port to which the wood is 

 conveyed. It is rather singular that this narrow locality 

 is the only one in the Provinces, so far as I am aware, in 

 which the tree is found. The tree has a much wider 

 range, the Karens inform me, on the Meinam side of the 

 mountains in Siam. More than five hundred thousand 

 pounds have been exported from Mergui during some 

 years between 1830 and 1840 ; but latterly the forests 

 have not been so productive. 



Ccesalpinia Sappan. 



c8^£Do5n 



