KV 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



(January 1, 1911. 



JclutcMi^ \\ Oiks at Cjocbilt. 



Ttii- v'i>oi.iu>>ii> oi liu- l u\tf>l M,il.«>Mi»u KublKr Cvx, as 

 t^M»lffs v>l Thi! Inw.v Ri»»»:r \\\«ii> arr awan?. c<MHfr 

 al>v>>« tlu- new town vM' iivH-bilt. u> Sarawak (.lUunot^V 

 Ha\ii\t: itwutly inavlf « visit of inspcvlu'n oi the works ot th)? 

 o\»n\|\n»\, rcn>aiui»\S; oUvse on a month ii\ Hv>in<N\ it ovvurs tv> n»e 

 that sv'in<' hriet »H»tes rvgarvUns what I saw ami the iu>j>ressivM>s 

 v»h«aiiw\l wa,v not he withont interest tor the tfailets ot" this 

 .ivnirnal — esiKviall,v a$ the ntateriat which the Mak-«vsian c\>ut- 

 na<\,v was (onne\l to deal with is in snoh large vlomaml in America. 



Sarawak, ivvevinj; rv^iishK 50.1XX1 s^juare miles, lies l>etw«H>n 

 Sovith ^J'>«^ch^ lvon\e\> anvl British North I5v>rue\\ anJ i-s chieils 

 known n> Kurv>|>e t'r\m\ the tact that it is an enlirel.v iiwlepenvlent 

 Mate s^>verne\l by an l"nsl>shn\,m with t'nll soveveijsu vijjhts, 

 nmler the title ot Rajah. There is. hv>wever. a s>^>»*»l il<'<>' more 

 to be saivl aUnit Sarawak. Much ot" it has been well said in an 

 excellent wv»rk entitlevl "Sarawak I'nvler Two White Rajahs." 

 and j>ublishe\l not very lojvjj i>inv Th^vse who wt-sh to stc<i«>re 

 «>iormati\'>n rvsardiiij; the jK>liti\-al. sxX'ial ami c\>n»merv»al prv^s^ 

 ress made nnvler the nuclei s'''Yernn>e«t this state iH^ssesses will 

 vk> well to cvvnsult the jWijes v>t this work. 



Th\Htsh the greater j>»rt>on ot S.ua\\ak is within 1 to - vless. 

 ot the e^uatv^r, its cliwaie is remarkably tenn>eratc and healthy. 

 In many resj>ects the cliniate is similar to that ot MaUvya. In 

 the dayt»n»e the temperature in the cv>ast districts seKU>n» rise* 

 aK.>\ e Jv5 to iSp vless- ; at uisht 77 to 7S degs, api^ears to l>e the 

 avetajie. The raiutall in the neishb«.vrhcsHl of Kuchinjj v'h* 

 cajxitaO and surrv^undii^ districts is ab\»ut IcO inches, and there 

 are the usual heavy nijiht views. h\ view of the climatic cv>ndi- 

 tivujs and the fact that .so much of Saraw-ik is covere\l with 

 swanuv jut^le. it is remarkable th,« malaria is practicallv un- 

 knowiv The reasvvt ajHHN»rs to be that the yi»i.'f>u-U-i nuvs»iuito 

 is iKxt-existent, althvni^h oth«r varieties of this uit)>leasant inseet 

 alkHtnd. 



The srv^vvth of vesetativM* in Sarawak exceeds anythins that 1 

 saw in any of the eastern districts, even in the mwsi favorevl 

 l>art< of M.ii.iysy^ The expv^rts are alreavly C\.M>si»lerable, cxmi- 

 .>f ivpi^er. vine rubber, rattan, juncs, and last, but 

 ..-i\S- In view of the new industry which is risinjj 

 m co«u»evt«on with the (vrcd\K-tiv>i\ of jelutons a few tisures and 

 facts bearins on jelutojxs j^rvxlvKtiv^i may «v>t be vn« of i>!ace. 

 In 19CW a little under UXOOO tons of jehiK>ng were exportevi frvxm 

 Sarawak, but the J\>;ures since have risen very ravndly, the Quan- 

 tity exjvrte\l from November. l^lH to March. WU\ bemj; r\>\ishly 

 at the rate of lilXW tvvns a vear. 



t-iutta-jelutonj; is derived frcim a nm\»her »>f s|>cvk> vi . y.-.i. 

 the uKvst cvMumon being l^yvm t-i>.«rN.'a>ii. This gr\>WN to a very 

 large site, the diameter oi a mature irv<- often rx-achiug 4 tv> 6 

 feet. Jelntong varieties are aniong the c\>nmioue>t forest trees 

 of Sarawak, Sculh Korn»\». Central Hornev>. the Malay ivrninsula. 

 and Sumalr.t. The k|uauti(\ of jelutoug m these vast forest 

 regions is very great. Muring the piist lew years I otimate th«t 

 the total prv^ductiivn per aniuun has been J.^.tXXl to .XUXXl tons of 

 jelutong;. Onring the past year the otuput nmst have been not 

 far shv>rt of -HXlXX^ tons. Large areas, however — f.'r insiaiKv, the 

 l-Vvleratcvl Malay States, auvl ^\^rts of l>orne\i and S\nnaira — 

 have IKM yet been workevl. and I have little dovibt that the trees 

 i"eadily accessible in the iehnong regions would easily yield 

 vlouble the iiuantity referred to. 



Uitferent i)naliiies of jelutong are knv>wn in the iratle. accord- 

 iiVijf to the districts fr\\m which they are deriveti. as l^tlembaitg 

 (, Sumatra ■>, IVntiani^k v!>onth Uv»rnet>1. Sarawak. i«nd .so on. 

 Coujmervial jelutong is oblainetl by cwignlatius the latex vlerived 

 frvMU the iet«K>ng tree, the latter is generally lai>|H-d by the 

 natives in one v>t two ways which greatly resemble resjwiively 

 the fxill spiral and \' systenis employevl on pl.mtations of Hfiya 

 rubl>er, (."Hvasionally the native methvxls result in the destruction 

 of trees, bttt c>u the whole I am iucline^l tv< think that no whole- 

 sale destruction has taken place; K»th the Oyak and the Malay- 

 gatherers have suftkient intelligence- iv> understand that destrttc- 

 tion of trees entails their going further atield to ejirn their liveli- 

 hood. However, measures for the pivtvvtion of trei-s and with 

 a view to intrv^ducing a n>ore scientitic system of tapping are 

 beins adopteii. In S;irawak the gvnerument have apjxunteil 

 si^e\-ial inspectors, and none but liv\-nsevl tappers are |»ern»itted 

 to work the trees. In the l'evlerate\l Malay States. South 

 Hornev\ and the Stnnatra cv>«cessions owneil by the Vtuted 

 Malaysian Rubber Co, similar steps are being taken. 



The system of lappins now U-ing intrvxhiced consists of a long 

 V with a channel running frvnt the ikmiu of the \" to the col- 

 lect ins '■'■"l^ ITt*- ^ >-"uts n»ay be fr\M\» o to 8 feet IvMig and art 

 mavle by means of a sjxvial knife atiacheil to a rvxl. This 

 .system works very satisfactorily, and the Malay and IXak col- 

 lectors revmire little training. 



The yield from a mature jeluK>«^ tree is very larse. Accord- 

 ing to txgwres obtaineil by the deivtrtmeitt of forests of the 

 Fevlerated Malay States a mnnber of trees were tapped in 

 IXvember, 1*>10. In the first tapping -4^5 trees yielded 56 

 catties [=7-^ ix^undsl of latex. In the second tapping ,1.' trees 



otNEKVL View of tmk CM,>eKii.T XW'^ks. 



Steamelr Laxwxc. -vr Go^sar. 



lAniva) v>i tueriity Mmmrr (nsw $>Kta(vr«v) 



