56 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November 1, 191S. 



niittec, exploring the north coast of Kaiser Wilhelm Land— the 

 German section of New Guinea— spent several days in travel 

 through dense swamps, toward the Bismarck mountains. Near 

 the Goldfields station they found Kutta percha of good qual- 

 ity. They felled some large trees which Herr Schlecter 

 identified as a 

 species of /'(/• 



in the "Flora of the Philippines" that Palinjuium was first named. 

 The valuable Payena I.crii was also found, and furnishes a 

 considerable part of the exports. 



AT LAST, MODERN METHODS. 

 Although these expeditions did not result in the 



iverv o f 



later, all works on gutta percha made the specific statement that 

 no gutta percha-producing trees had been found in those islands. 

 Yet. for twenty years, at least, exportations had been going on. 

 The trade had alm.ist stopped, however, because the gum had 

 been so de- 

 based by tlie 

 Chinese adul- 

 terators that 

 the usually 

 none - too - par- 

 ticular post 

 dealers had re- 

 volt e d. and 

 would have no 

 more of it. Im- 

 mediately after 

 tlie .-\mericans 

 assumed con- 

 trol, the gath- 

 ering and ex- 

 port were re- 

 sumed. In 1900 

 the government 

 learned that the 

 wild natives of 

 Mindanao were 

 engaged in cut- 

 ting down the 

 gutta percha 

 trees at a rate 

 which meant 

 their speedy ex- 

 termination. To get at the real facts they dispatched Dr. 

 Pennoyer Sherman, Jr., who made a thorough exploration of 

 the islands, reportmg on tlie Jjotanical and economic aspects of 

 the matter. He found gutta percha-producing trees in large 

 areas of Mindanao and a few in other localities, including some 

 small tracts in Luzon. There were nine species of Palaquium. 

 but none of Palaquium sutta or its sub-species. It was. indeed, 



cussity for the 

 greatest triumph 

 of modern civil- 

 ization by meth- 

 ods which it 



were base flattery to describe as paleolithic. Nature had spent 

 fifty years in building up a beautiful tree, which has the mysteri- 

 ous power of making the much-prized gutta percha. A naked 

 savage cuts it down and leaves it to rot. draining out a pound 



of gutta percha, 

 and leaving 



GuTT.\ Percha Pl.\nt.\tion He.idqu.nrters. J 



t o civilization. 

 .\n(i for this de- 

 structive work 

 the people who 

 are most inter- 

 ested in pre- 

 venting it pay 

 c\er higher and 

 ii i g h e r pre- 

 miums ! 



There are evi- 

 dently three 

 ways in which to meet the problem of conserving the supply. 

 One is the protection of the remaining forest trees ; another is 

 better means of collecting, and a third, the cultivation of the 

 plant. All three methods have been undertaken by the Dutch 

 authorities of the East Indies, and probably in time to avert a 

 real disaster in the failure of the supply. The first is the one 

 which most naturally occurs to the student of the problem, but 



