THE SAPPAN TREE 



C^ESALPINIA 



SAPPAN 

 Bakam-wood 



tanning material, while the Assam sample was still richer, viz. 59 '89 per 

 cent. The report (I.e. 192) continues : " With the view of obtaining 

 a practical opinion as to the tanning value of this powder, a sample 

 was furnished to a well-known tanning expert, who reports that he 

 is much impressed with the results that he has so far obtained ; they 

 compare very favourably with those furnished by the best dim-dim, 

 whilst the aqueous liquor from C. digyna did not appear to undergo 

 the injurious fermentation which is the difficulty in the use of divi- 

 divi." A second consignment from Assam was sent to the Imperial 

 Institute in 1900 and found to contain a slightly lower percentage of 

 tannic acid, viz. 45*45 per cent., also a third parcel from Burma, which, 

 however, contained more than the previous, viz. 60*5 per. cent. These 

 results accordingly place the pods among the richest of tanning materials, 

 and they undoubtedly impart an excellent colour to the skins. They 

 are, in fact, much richer in tannic acid than was supposed some few years 

 ago. It may therefore be added that it would be unfortunate (as seems 

 likely) if they should be destined to a second half -century of oblivion, such 

 as followed their original discovery by Mr. Sconce in 1847. [Cf. Gamble, 

 Man. Ind. Timbs., 266 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 247 ; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., 

 ii. (Plants, Chota Nagpur), 99 ; Hanausek, Berichte der Deut. Bot. Gesell., 

 1902, 77 (Gvsh.), (gives a long account of the microscopical structure of 

 the pods) ; Board of Trade Journ., 1903, i., 146 ; Chandra, Tanning, and 

 Working in Leather, Beng., 1904, 7 ; Chatterton, Tanning, and Working 

 in Leather, Mad. Pres., 1904, 47.] 



Richest of 



Tanning 



Materials. 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 10-2. 

 Sappan. 



History of the 

 Name. 



Derivation 

 of Sappan. 



C. Sappan, Linn.; Tsja-Pangam, Rheede, Hort. Mai, 1686, vi., 

 t. 2 ; Lignum Sappan, Rumphius, Herb. Amb., 1750, iv., 56-8, t. 21 ; 

 Roxb., Carom. PL, i., 17 ; Beddome, For. Man., 90, pi. xiii., f. 1. ; Greshofi, 

 Nutt. Ind. PL, 1894, 121-4, t. 29 ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 255. The Sappan- or 

 Bakam-wood or Sampfen-wood, sometimes also called Brazilian-wood 

 (the name Brazilian being derived from braise (red coals) and thus 

 originally unconnected with the country of that name ; in fact, given 

 long prior to the discovery of Brazil). The better known vernaculars 

 of India are bakam (bokom), tairi, teri, patang, pattdnga, sappanga, 

 chapangam, tein-nyet, etc. 



History. This plant is frequently mentioned in letters from East India Co.'s 

 servants at the beginning of the 17th century, showing that it was a well-known 

 article of trade even then. One of the earliest detailed descriptions of it, how- 

 ever, is that given by Bheede, where it is called tsia-pangam. That account was 

 followed by the Herbarium Amboinense, in which a long list of both the European 

 and Native names for it are given, but of these the Bengali russok need only be 

 here specially mentioned a name that does not appear to be in use at the present 

 time since in Bengal it is generally known as bokom. It is also interesting to add in 

 this connection that Rumphius suggests the derivation of Sappan from the demand 

 of the Arabs for the wood to be employed in the construction of certain ornamental 

 boats or portions of boats. Hence, adds Rumphius, comes the Malayan sampan, 

 a decorated boat. He further tells us that the pegs (or wooden nails) employed 

 in ship-building are chiefly made of this wood. But the Sappan is a small thorny 

 tree of the Eastern and Western Peninsulas of India, also of Pegu, Tenasserim 

 and the Shan plateau of Burma cultivated where met with elsewhere in India 

 and Burma. Hence with its Malayal name shappannam and its Tamil shappu, 

 it is more likely, as suggested by Yule and Burnell (Hobson-Jobaon (ed. Crooke), 

 794), that the word sappan was derived direct from India itself and is not 

 Malayan. Gamble (Man. Ind. Timbs., 1902, 267) says he has never seen it 

 wild. Rheede observes that it prefers sandy places, is indigenous to Travancore 

 and cultivated as an ornamental and useful tree all over Malabar. 



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