1 70 APPENDIX. 



in one of the remoter districts of the island, which we owe to Mr. L. 

 M. Vonck, a member of the Dutch-Indian Civil Service, stationed 



m 



at Sekajoe, in Sumatra, and whicli is published in the last issue of 

 the Journal of the Nethciiauds Society for the Advancement of 

 Industry, is, therefore, an acceptable addition to our knowledge of 

 the collection of this important drug and the manner In which it 

 passes into commerce. Mr. Vonck does not refer to the gum, of 

 which he speaks either as Palembang, Penang, or Sumatra benzoin, 

 and it may, therefore, be taken for granted that those classifications 

 are unfamiliar to him. The gum of which he writes, and which 

 appears the only kind brought into" commerce from south-eastern 

 Sumatra, is evidently all obtained from one tree, and seems to corre- 

 spond with the kiads known to our druggists as Penang and Palem- 

 bang. So far as his evidence goes, therefore, it certainly favours 

 Dr. Treub's opinion that there is no difference between the commercial 

 source of Penang and Palembang benzoin. The benzoin-tree {Stijrax 



Malay, pohon Kern en j an , or M 



Mr 



Vonck, in various portions of the high and low lands of 

 the residency of Palembang. It grows up to an altitude of about 

 COO feet above sea-level, either in small clusters or sporadically 

 between other trees. Formerly little attention appears to have been 

 paid to benzoin -culture. At any rate, the standard writers on the 

 products of the Dutch Indies ouly mention benzoin as being collected 



wild 



« t V 



on the Lalang and Toengkal rivers, and in the mlds of Batang Lakoh 

 in the country of the Koeboes. But the easy nature of the culture, 

 and the high prices which good benzoin realised in former years 

 (from £6 to £8 IOj?. per picul), acted as strong incentives to the 

 extension of the plantation. There are only a few parts of the 

 residency of Palembang in which the benzoin-tree is either scarce or 

 non-existent. In some other districts the tree is found wild, but its 

 gum is never collected, nor is the tree cultivated systematically. The 

 principal districts in which the benzoin -tree is systematically culti- 

 vated in gardens are the divisions of Iliran, Banjoeasin, and MoesI 

 Ilir. In the Koeboe country, already referred to above,*in the 

 vii-gin forests of which the benzoin-tree was formerly of very com- 

 mon occurrence, it has now ahnost been extirpated. The tree 

 .flourishes in various kinds of soil, but experience shows a high, dry 

 sandy soil, free from danger of inundation, to be most fitted for its 



