30 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODCCTIOXS. 



AiiPHiROA, Lamourou.r. 



A. TErBULrs, Lx. Thrown up on Diamond Island, liiflioito 



known only from St. Croix, Antilles. 

 A. feagelissijIA, Lx. South Andaman, at Camping Bay. 



Sub- order CEEAMIEjIS, ILartens and Zeller. 



Hehmoceeas, Kiitzing. 



n. FLACciDuu, Harvey. In crevices of rocks on Boronga Island. 



GoxGEOCERAS, Kidzinj. 

 G. EADiCAxs, Zell. Elephant Point, in mangrove swamps. 



Of the edible seaweeds Kiu-z remarks : " The seaweeds commonly eaten by the 

 Burmans are Gi/jartina sj)itio.s(i, Grev. {fffiu- ogar of the Malays), and 8p}ucrococciis 

 hclicnoides, Ag. (Ceylon moss of commerce). These are usually called by the Burmese 

 Kijouk 2)uen.'" 



The latter of these is, I presume, the species alluded to by Dr. Mason under the 

 name Ploearia Candida, and which seems to be superior to most other species, in being 

 free from the bitter principle, which renders most species so nauseous. 



According to an analysis by Dr. 0. Shaugnessy, this seaweed is composed of 



Vegetable jelly. . 



Starch . . 



"Woody fibre 



Gum 



Sulidiate and muriate of soda . . 



Sulphate and phosphate of lime 



99 



Of the best method of preparing it. Dr. O'Shaugnessey remarks: "In the first 

 place, from the tendency of pectin or vegetable jelly to form insoluble compounds 

 with saline and earthy bases, it is necessary to steep this fucus for a few hours 

 in cold rain-water as the first step in its preparation. This removes a large portion 

 of the sulphate of soda, leaving all the gelatine and starch. It should next be dried 

 by the sun's rays and ground to a fine powder. Cutting or pounding, howeviT 

 diligently or minutely performed, still leaves the amylaceous globules so mechanically 

 protected, and so chisely involved in an exteraal sheath of tough ligneous fibre, that 

 scarcely a particle of the starch can be extracted by boiling, oven though the decoction 

 is prolonged for several hours. "When ground to powder, boiling for twenty-five 

 minutes or half an hour dissolves all the starch and gelatine. The solution while 

 hot should be passed through muslin or calico, and thus the ligneous fibre is removed ; 

 lastly, the strained fluid should bo boiled down till a drop placed on a cold surface 

 gelatinizes sufficiently." The product thus strained may then be eaten with milk 

 and sugar and flavoured with lemon juice and sheriy. According to Balfour's Cyclo- 

 poedia of India (see Agar Agar), the quantity annually shipped from Singapore 

 averages 10,000 piculs or rather less than 400 tons, and all this goes to China, 

 where it is used in place of size, for dressing cotton goods, and the finer varieties 

 are also employed to make a jelly or sweetmeat, called in Canton Wong-leung-fan. 

 It is an article of export that deserves more attention than it has received, as likely 

 to prove of use in the arts in Europe if once introduced to notice, much as it is 

 in China. The selling price of the first quality is sixteen shillings a hundredweight, 

 and of the second ten shillings. It is said, when used as a paste, not to be liable 

 to the attacks of insects, but this, if it is, as described, an edible amylaceous 

 compound, seems hardly probable. 



The economic value, however, on the whole, of seaweeds is not great. Tlio 

 ashes of seaweeds yield soda and iodine, and the weed itself is used near the coast 



