ON THE COMMERCIAL KINDS OF INDIA-RUBBER. 19 
sively by figs.” Miquel (Fl. Ind. Bat., vol. iii.) mentions, Wiliugh- 
beia edulis and Vahea gummifera as Java plants. 
Penang india-rubber is of a dark colour. Is it the produce of Cy- 
nanchum ovalifolium, Wight, which is stated by Dr. Wallich as yielding 
an excellent caoutchouc, and was found by him in Penang? It is a 
smooth twining plant (Lindl. Fl. Med., p. 542). 
Siam india-rubber is of a white or pinky and liver-like appearance. 
It is very seldom we get any of this kind in England. I do not know 
by what plant it is produced. 
Singapore india-rubber offers us an example of the difficulties to be 
met with in economic botany. Here is an island, Singapore, of small size, 
sending enormous quantities of raw goods to Great Britain and other 
parts of the world, and the question naturally arises, Where are they 
produced? The trade of Singapore is very great; not only does it 
form a vast entrepot for the native states around, but also for Caleutta, 
China, Burmah, Java, Siam, ete. The value of its imports in 1863 
amounted to £6,461,720. In Mr. Thomas Hancock's work on the 
‘History of the India-rubber Manufacture,’ the following table is 
given :— 
Imports at Singapore of Caoutchouc for the years 1849-50 to 1854-55. 
From Java. . . ... ... 958,730 Ibs: 
» Sumatra. . 763,980 ,, 
» China. , » 
» Manilla 14,896 ,, 
po Bomo lx ey 8,024 ,, 
» Malay Peninsula . k h 
» Penang and Malacca. . . 253,568 ,, 
Misewhere . : . : < 180296 , 
This table shows how much Singapore depends on the importations 
for her supplies of india-rubber for export. Very little, if any, of the 
india-rubber exported from Singapore is native. During the period given 
in the table above, only 723,968 lbs. of the exports was native Singa- 
pore rubber. Since that period nearly all the trees have been destroyed. 
In a table given in Cameron’s ‘ Malayan India,’ £14,110 is stated 
to have been the value of the india-rubber exported to Great Britain 
in 1863 from Singapore; it is there stated not to be a native product 
of the island, but that it is received from neighbouring ‘states, and 
stored up in the godowns or warehouses. This rubber is received in 
c 2 
