the Gamboge of'Cuvimercc. 107 



t request that he will compare it with the specimens in the Banksian Herba- 

 rium, from which IMurray's description was taken. If the same, the generic 

 name Stalagmitis may yet be retained, and the description only altered. If 

 not the same, it must form the type of a new genus, to which I find Garcinia 

 elliplica of \\'allich also belongs. It is especially characterized by the sta- 

 mens, of which I send you a figure." 



The point on which Dr Graham finds it necessary wholly to dissent from 

 ■us, is thus briefly stated at page 102 of the Prodromus : " There can now be 

 little doubt of this {Xanthochyimis ovalifolrus) being the only plant in Ceylon 

 that yields gamboge fit for the arts, and chat, consequently, the specific name 

 of Gambogia gutta, Linn., ought to ha^e been applied to this species, and not 

 to Garcinia cambogia." 



The evidence contained in Dr Graham's letter seems so completely to in- 

 validate the correctness of our statement, that it might appear useless to at- 

 tempt any refutation; yet I am not satisfied that he is either wholly right, 

 or that we are wholly wrong. I do not think him right in considering the 

 tree of which he has got specimens, as the only one that produces gamboge 

 fit to be used in the arts, nor do I think it is the one which produces the true 

 Ceylon gamboge. I do not think so, because it has been long and well-known 

 that there are two sorts in use. — one from the eastward, Siam, Cambogia, 

 China, — and the other from Ceylon ; the latter considered inferior to the for- 

 mer. The gamboge from the tree in question, specimens of which I have 

 seen, is apparently of the best quality, and much superior to the common 

 Ceylon gamboge, having a fine, rather light colour, and glassy fracture. The 

 true Ceylon gamboge is darker coloured, and mixed with dark brown spots. 

 The Ceylon tree which produces the fine gamboge is rare, as Colonel Walker 

 informs me he has only met with it in one place, and that an old garden near 

 a former Dutch settlement, not far from Negombo. It cannot surely be sup- 

 posed, that a tree so exceedingly rare as this is represented, can be the one 

 which affords all the gamboge produced in that island ; still less so, when it 

 is borne in mind, that that obtained from it differs in quality from that 

 usually produced there, and known in commerce under the name of " Ceylon 

 Gamboge." From the e facts, I think, we are entitled to conclude, that Dr 

 Graham has drawn a wide inference from insufficient data, or, in other words, 

 has attempted to form a general rule from a solitary example. I do not, 

 however, wish it to be supposed that I insist on our statement being held 

 strictly correct ; because a degree of uncertainty attaches to the tree or trees 

 from which this substance is procured, that all the efforts of botanists for 

 the last century have been unable altogether to remove. All that I have 

 attempted, or indeed wished to prove is, first, that the facts adduced by Dr 

 Graham are not sufficient to invalidate our position, that the XanthochymiK 

 ovalifolius is the only indigenous plant in Ceylon that produces gamboge fit to 

 be used in the arts ; though I fear, from further inquiries, that we were pre- 

 mature in hazarding so strong a statement ; and, secondly, that the tree, 

 from which Dr Graham's specimens were procured, is of exotic origin. I 

 shall now attempt to account for the appearance in the island of that tree 

 which is neither a Garcinia nor Xantlmckymus. 



About the beginning ol'tlic seventeenth century, the Dutch first imported 

 gamboge into Euro|)e from China, and, iiol long after, they expelled the Por- 



