ACACIA 



CATRCHU 



Pegu Cutch 



Exported from 

 Cambay. 



Origin of Name. 



Terra Japonica 

 and Gambicr. 



Pegu 

 Cutch. 



Three men work 

 together. 



Iron Cauldron. 



Stirring. 



After Treatment 



Season of 

 Working. 



THE CUTCH TREE 



of the extract, appears never to have been ascertained. It may be mentioned 

 as a curious circumstance, very possibly connected with A. sundra, that one of 

 the earliest European writers, Barbosa (1514 A.D.) speaks of cacho as exported 

 from Cambay to Malacca. The name cacho would seem to be simply the 

 Kanarese kachu, and very possibly gave origin to the modern Latin name 

 Catechu. In 1574 Garcia de Orta (Coll., xxxi.) gave a complete account of the 

 plant, and of the manufacture of the extract under its Tamil name of kati (cate), 

 a word which by some authors gave the first half of the name Catechu, the second 

 being derived from chuana, to distil. It is probable, however, that although 

 the earliest European authors saw the extract being prepared from A. sun<ir, 

 the Pegu form is quite as ancient if not more so. It was not, however, until the 

 seventeenth century that catechu attracted the attention of Europe. It was 

 then supposed to be a natural earth, and as it reached Europe by way of Japan 

 it received the name of TERRA JAPONICA. About the same time GAMBIEB also 

 found its way to Europe, and was designated Terra Japonica indiscriminately 

 with catechu. Cleger exploded the mineral notion of these substances, by 

 republishing in 1685 Garcia de Orta's account of the preparation of the extract. 

 He affirmed that the best quality came from Pegu, other sorts from Surat, Mala- 

 bar, Bengal and Ceylon. 



There are said to be three forms of this substance : (1) DARK CATECHU 

 or Cutch, chiefly used for industrial purposes ; (2) Indian PALE CATECHU 

 or Jcath a crystalline substance eaten in pan or used medicinally ; and 

 (3) KEEBSAL (Jcirsal), a crystalline substance found embedded in the wood, 

 much after the same fashion as Barus camphor. To obtain the cutch 

 the trees have to be felled, but the destruction is conducted in so ruthless 

 a fashion, and so widespread is the demand, that many officers affirm 

 the total extinction of the tree is threatened [Cf. Upper Burma Gaz. 

 Shan States, 1900, ii., pt. i., 314 ; For. Admin. Rept. Pegu Circ., 

 1900-1, 10 ; Summary Settl. Operations, Lower Chindwin Dist., 

 1901-3, 3 ; Hooper, Rept. Labor. Ind. Mus., 1904-5, 26-7 ; 1906-7, 10.] 

 The following particulars may be given regarding the manufacture of 

 the two first-mentioned extracts : 



1. Dark Catechu or Pegu Cutch. Three men generally work to- 

 gether : one cuts down the trees and drives the cattle that drag the logs 

 to the site of the furnace ; the second clears off the sapwood and cuts 

 the heartwood up into the little chips required by the third man, who 

 attends to the furnaces and boilers. The chips are packed into earthen 

 pots holding three to four gallons of water, and the whole is boiled down 

 to one-half ; the chips are then taken out, and the liquid of 20 to 25 pots 

 is gradually poured into a large iron pan or cauldron, and again boiled 

 and stirred and fresh liquid added from the earthen pots until the fluid 

 attains the consistency of syrup. The cauldron is then taken off the fire 

 and the contents stirred continuously with a wooden paddle for four 

 hours or more, till the mass cools and can be handled. It is then taken 

 out and spread on leaves arranged within a wooden frame, like a brick 

 mould. It is left over-night, and in the morning the extract is dry and 

 ready to be cut up into pieces for the market. It might then be described 

 as a brick of cutch weighing 36 to 44 Ib. A picturesque and illustrated 

 account of the work is given by a correspondent in The Empress (July 

 1903). 



The chips are sometimes boiled down a second time, but as a rule very 

 little is extracted by this further boiling. Much difference of opinion 

 prevails as to the necessity of beating the liquid after the cauldron is 

 taken off the fire. Some manufacturers are satisfied with half an hour, 

 others give it as much as four or five hours. 



Cutch manufacture takes place from June 1 to March 31, but the 



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