SUMACH 



SUMATRA 



799 



are remarkable for their poisonous properties. 

 Venetian Sumach (R. cotinus), known also as Wig 



Sumach, or Wig 

 Tree, is a native 

 of the south of 

 Europe and west of 

 Asia, and is often 

 planted in Britain 

 as an ornamental 

 shrub. It has sim- 

 ple leaves, and 

 hairy corymbs of 

 fruit, which have a 

 sort of resemblance 

 to periwigs. The 

 twigs and leaves dye 

 \yellow (see FUSTIC), 

 7 and are used in tan- 

 ning. The bark has 

 been used as a sub- 

 stitute for Peruvian 

 Bark. The seed re- 

 sembles the almond 

 in flavour. The very 

 acid fruit of the 

 Sicilian or Elm- 

 Snmach ( Rhiu cotinug), showing leaved Sumach (R. 

 leaves, flowers, and fruit coriaria ) a native 

 of the countries 



around the Mediterranean, with pinnate leaves, 

 not unfrequent in British shrubberies has been 

 used as a condiment, and the seeds and the leaves 

 medicinally as tonic and cooling. This species is 

 also used for tanning and dyeing. Similar to this 

 in its properties is the Virginian Sumach, or Stag's- 

 horn Sumach (R. typhina), a native of eastern 

 North America, ana common in British shrub- 

 beries, which has the branches curiously crooked, 

 and covered when young with a soft velvety down. 

 It has pinnate leaves, with numerous leaflets, and 

 is valuable as an astringent and refrigerant. The 

 milky juice which exudes from incisions made in 

 the bark affords a varnish. The flowers supply 

 abundance of honey. The Smooth-leaved Sumach 

 (R. glabra), a very similar species, also North 

 American, has very acid leaves, and this species 

 is sometimes troublesome as a weed. Of the acrid 

 and poisonous species the most important is the 

 I'oison Ivy (R. toxicodendron) of North America, 

 n shrub from 1 to 3 feet high (when it is also called 

 Poison Oak), or a climber, with leaves of three 

 leaflets, and a milky juice, which becomes black 

 on exposure to air. The leaves have been used in 

 medicine as a stimulant of the nervous system. 

 Similar to this in properties is the Poison Sumach 

 (S. venenata), with from 7 to 13 leaflets, also 

 known as Poison Elder and Swamp Dogwood, and 

 other North American species, the juice of which 

 is very acrid ; even the emanations are injurious to 

 some persons, who, from standing close to these 

 plants, or from handling them, experience a cutan- 

 eous eruption with violent itching. The Varnish 

 Sumach (R. vernicifera), a native of Japan and 

 Nepal, yields a varnish much used in Japan for 

 lacquer-work. R. metopium yields in great abund- 

 ance a gummy resin, which in a pure state is yellow 

 in colour, and of a hard brittle consistence. R. 

 pumila is regarded as one of the most poisonous of 

 the genus. R. succedanea, a native of Japan, 

 yields a fleshy fruit containing a nut, which yields 

 an oil that is made into candles. The name 

 Tanners' Sumach is given to Coriaria myrtifolia, a 

 shrub of the south of Europe. 



Sumatra (so called probably from the ancient 

 town of Samudera in the north ) is after Borneo the 

 largest island of the East Indian Archipelago or In- 

 donesia, having an area not much less than that of 

 Spain, calculated on very imperfect data at 165,600 



sq. m. (or, including the numerous and important 

 islands off the coasts, 170,780 miles). Towards the 

 middle it is crossed lengthwise by the equator, and 

 it extends from 5 40' N. lat. to 5 59' S. lat., and 

 from 95 16' to 106 3'45' E. long. The greatest 

 length is 1115 miles, the greatest breadth 275. An 

 imposing mountain-system the Bukit Barisan, or 

 Chain Mountains, consisting of several more or less 

 parallel ranges (7000 to 10,000 feet high), with 

 intervening plateaus and valleys forms the frame- 

 work of the island, which has a bold and frequently 

 precipitous coast towards the west, but has been 

 carried eastward by the formation of vast expanses 

 of alluvial ground. This striking contrast between 

 east and west lias been produced in part by the 

 difference between exposure to the full force of 

 the Indian Ocean and the shelter afforded by the 

 Malacca Peninsula and the other islands of the 

 archipelago. Slates and clay-schists of high an- 

 tiquity, with granite not so frequently visible, 

 form the original kernel of Sumatra, which has 

 been subsequently modified by Carboniferous strata, 

 long afterwards by Tertiary breccias, sandstones, 

 marls, and coal-beds, and still further by very 

 extensive Post-tertiary deposits. Volcanoes have 

 played a large part in embossing the surface. Of 

 the numerous cones along the Bukit Barisan ranges 

 some seven or eight are still active, including Indra- 

 pura (the culminating peak of the island, 11,800 

 feet), Merapi (the most restless), Pasaman or 

 Mount Ophir (which broke out in 1891), &c. In 

 1883 the southern end of the island was involved 

 in the Krakatoa eruption. The mountain-lakes, 

 which are characteristic of the island, are largely 

 of volcanic, and more especially of craterial origin ; 

 of these the most important are the Singkarah, 

 the Korintji, the Ranau, and 'the Tobah. Towards 

 the west the rivers of Sumatra are of necessity 

 short and rapid, but several of the eastward streams, 

 the Rokan, Siak, Indragiri, Jambi, and Paleinhang 

 or Musi, grow to imposing rivers in their passage 

 through the plains. They are fed by an abundant 

 rainfall ; the average precipitation at Deli, for 

 example, is 83 inches per annum. The clouds 

 descend much lower than in other islands of the 

 archipelago. The division of the seasons is of course 

 quite opposite in the two halves of the island lying 

 respectively north and south of the equator. Hail- 

 storms are not infrequent in the higher regions. 

 The Sumatra flora is exceptionally rich. Jungbuhn's 

 paradox that an ape could traverse the island from 

 north to south without descending to the ground 

 is almost literally true. Vast but too rapidly dimin- 

 ishing areas of the mountain regions are 'covered 

 with virgin forest, a striking contrast to the vast 

 prairies of alang (or lalang), that vigorous grass 

 which seizes on every clearing not occupied by 

 human industry. Though it only explored a small 

 portion of the western side of the island, the Dutch 

 expedition of 1877-79 collected 400 varieties of 

 timber. The vegetation-contours of the island 

 descend much lower than those of Java. In Java, 

 for instance, the oaks do not grow below an altitude 

 of 4500 feet ; in western Sumatra they come down 

 to within 500 or even 100 feet of sea-level. The 

 flora of the east coast is almost entirely unexplored. 

 Rice, sugar (from cane and the Arenga palm), 

 coffee, pepper, cocoa-nuts, sago, maize, sweet 

 potatoes, yams are among the principal cultivated 

 products. In recent years the tobacco of the Deli 

 district, grown by Dutch planters with Chinese 

 coolie labour, lias become favourably known both in 

 European and American markets. Of several 

 minerals existing in average quantities in the 

 island only two, gold and coal, are worked to any 

 economical result, the latter especially at Ombilin, 

 united with the west coast by railway in 1891. The 

 petroleum wells of Langkat ( Lankhat) are very rich. 



