DIPTEROCARPUS 



TUBERCULATUS 



Eng 



THE WOOD-OIL TREES OF INDIA 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 158-9. 

 Telia- 

 garjan. 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 159. 

 Hollong. 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 160-1. 

 Eng. 



Wood-oil. 



Torch es. 



Oil. 



Timber. 



The former is sold in the bazars mixed with dammar (the produce of Vateria- 

 inaica) as varnish at 5 annas a bottle. The latter also makes a fair varnish. 

 It has a strong copaiba-like smell and would probably be useful in medicine." 

 One at least of these oils must be regarded as afforded by the present species, 

 whether it be accepted as distinct from J. ttirttinatus or only a variety of it. 



D. laevis, Ham., Mem. Wern. Soc., 1832, vi., 298-9 ; D. turbinatus, Roxb., FL 

 2nd., ii., 612 (in part) ; FL Br. Ind., i., 295 (in part). Prain speaks of this as 

 a tall tree met with in Tippera, where it is known as telia-garjan. He remarks 

 that as so accurate an observer as Buchanan-Hamilton separated his it<-ri* 

 from turMiintHs, on account of their different economic properties, it seems 

 better to leave the two trees as distinct species. In a letter to Roxburgh dated 

 Oct. 16, 1798, Buchanan-Hamilton speaks of four species of " gurgeon " found by 

 him in Chittagong, which doubtless included the present species. 



D. obtusifolius, Teysm. A large deciduous tree of the eng forests of Prome 

 and Martaban. It is the kanyingok, inbo, in-kohe. 



D. pilosus, Roxb., FL Ind., i., 615. A tall evergreen tree of Assam, Chittagong 

 and Burma. It is best known as the hollong. Brandis observes that it yields 

 a semi-fluid resin, and it is described by Hooper as white (Rept. Labor. Ind. 

 Mus. (Indust. Sec.), 1904-5, 24). Gamble speaks of the wood as good but not 

 suited for tea-boxes. Peal refers to it as employed for canoes. This is possibly 

 the tree mentioned by Robinson (Desc. Ace. Assam, 1841, 62). 



D. tubereulatus, Roxb., FL Ind., ii., 614. The Eng Tree, eng, i 

 sooahn. A large deciduous, gregarious tree forming the " in (eng) forests 

 of Burma, Chittagong and Siam. It is said to be very characteristic of 

 laterite soils and to take the place of the sal in Northern and Central India. 



Oleo-resin. It was for some time thought that the eng tree did not 

 give a wood-oil, but Mr. J. W. Oliver explained that it yielded a thick oil 

 or rather oleo-resin. The reader will find Mr. Oliver's most interesting 

 report in the Dictionary (iii., 160-1). The method of extraction is very 

 similar to that for garjan-oil, explained below. The congealed resin 

 which remains behind, after the removal of the oil, is scraped off and used 

 for torches which are made of rotten wood, mixed with the resin and rolled 

 up in the leaves of the satthwa, a species of screw-pine. In some localities, 

 however, the rotten wood is soaked in the oil itself and wrapped up in the 

 leaves of a palm-saZw (Licuala peltata). Nisbet (Burma Under Brit. 

 Rule and Before, 1901, 365) says that " twenty years ago the chief luminant 

 used after dark through the rural tracts, except those of the dry zone 

 within easy reach of the central petroleum fields, was a small torch about 

 a foot and a half long made of chips of dead wood and the resinous oil of 

 the kanyin or wood-oil tree I>. turbinatus rolled in palm leaves. . . ." 

 " These kanyinsi torches were sold in bundles in every bazar. While 

 burning they emitted incessant smoke and a strong oily smell, pungent 

 and differing vastly from the European idea of fragrance. At one time 

 the manufacture of these torches formed an industry wherever the wood- 

 oil trees abounded ; but now, in consequence of improved communications 

 and of large imports of kerosene at low rates, torch-making is only betaken 

 to in jungle tracts in order to eke out the means of livelihood during bad 

 years, when the shadow of misfortune darkens the threshold." 



The oil is used for waterproofing bamboo baskets, etc. With regard 

 to the wood, Gamble (I.e. 72) says, " The Eng is probably the best of the 

 woods given by the species of Dipterocurpns, and it is in considerable 

 demand and use for building and boats." In point of weight it would 

 seem to average 54 Ib. [Cf. Brandis, Ind. For., 1875, i., 365 ; Semler, Trop. 

 AgriL, 1900, ii., 536-7.] Hooper (Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 1, 15) mentions 

 a tannin extract obtained from the bark of this tree. 



500 



; 



of 



