May 4, 191 1] 



NATURE 



II 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opitiions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other /lari o/ Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous comniunications.] 



Caliature Wood. 

 During the preparation for the press, in 1895, ^^ ^^""^ 

 " Diary and Consultation Book of the Agent, Governor 

 and Council of Fort St. George," for 1682-5, Mr. A. T. 

 Pringle, the editor, inquired if 1 could throw any liglit on 

 the origin of caliature, a name for redwood (Ptcrocarpus 

 santalinus), frequently referred to as an article of trade in 

 Madras. Presuming the name to be that of a port on 

 the east coast, it has evidently disappeared from nearly all 

 ihe available gazetteers and modern atlases. Inquiries 

 were made in London, Holland, and Java with no results ; 

 but recent researches in the libraries of Calcutta have been 

 more successful, and the following notes on the early 

 trade of the country form an interesting chapter on the 

 history of red-sanders wood. 



To Rumphius belongs the credit of giving the origin of 

 the term " caliture. " In "Herbarium Amboiense," 1750, 

 vol. ii., 48, he speaks of " Santalum rubrum " being 

 known in his country and in Europe, and as coming from 

 a tree from which " hgnum calitour " is derived. The 

 wood is very hard, solid, and dull-red, which he says 

 could be obtained in great abundance from the northern 

 parts of the Coromandel coast. Various kinds of furni- 

 ture were made of it, as benches and elegantly carved 

 chairs. Only the mature trees afforded good sandal- 

 wood, as was shown in letters sent to him in XO89. The 

 wood was also used as a tincture in the arts, and the 

 Armenians in .Shiraz and Ispahan added it to distilled 

 spirit of wine to give it a beautiful and intense red 

 ■colour. The identity of the town by Rumphius I will 

 quote in the original Latin : — " Hisce addo ex iisdem 

 litteris locum Caliatour quondam dictum, hodie in ora 

 Coromandelensi hoc nomine non amplius esse notum, sed 

 tempore mutatum fuisse in Krusjua-Patanum, scu Kisjua- 

 Patan, ita ut primi nominis memoria inter Europaeos 

 tantum conservetur. " 



The town of Kistnapatam, referred to in this paragraph, 

 is in the Nellore district of the Madras Presidencv. It is 

 now a village, situated at 14° 17' north latitude, 82 miles 

 north of< Madras ; it has a fine backwater of great depth, 

 and is a shelter for native craft during the monsoon. In 

 an old glossary it is said to be the Greek ffoiiroT/no, and 

 "title otherwise Calitore. " In a map accompanying "A 

 True and Exact description of the most celebrated East 

 India Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel " (1672), by 

 (Rev.) Philip Balda;us, Callerture is shown between 

 Armagon and IVnne (Penner River). In a map of the 

 " Peninsola deli India " (dated 1683), bv Giacomo Cantelli 

 da Vignola, a Portuguese, the town is indicated as 

 " Caletur." It is evident that while the town was known 

 to foreigners as Calitore or Caletur, it was not recognised 

 by that name by the British factors. 



The trees yielding red sandal-wood occupv a small 

 area including portions of the Cuddapah, Nellore, and 

 North Areot districts, chiefly on the Sashachellam, 

 Lankamali, and X'eligonda ranges of hills. Mr. Ciamble 

 remarks that " in range there is perhaps no important 

 Indian tree of so circumscribed a distribution." We need 

 not suppose that the area under P. santalinus has shifted 

 its position during the past two hundred years. .\ glance 

 at the map of India will show that produce from this area 

 would find outlets on the roast at Calclure. .\rmagon, and 

 Pulicat, frequented by Dutch ships in the seventeenth 

 century. Turning to the text of Baldaeus's description of 

 the Coromandel coast, we do not. however, find reference 

 to the trade in redwood, but on p. 654 he savs that between 

 " Penna and Caleture " the best " " Essaye Roots" are 

 found, referring to chayroot (Oldnilandia umbrllata) ; and 

 he refers to the bark of a tree, of a darker colour, which 

 is j)robably Vcntilago niadraspatana. Numerous vegetable 

 dyes must have been in use at this time to prepare the 

 large quantities of coloured cotton goods exported from 

 this coast. 



The earliest English factory was planted in 1625 at 

 Masulipatam, where trade was carried on with varying 



NO. 2166. VOL. 86] 



fortune {or several years. In 1628 the agent, pressed by 

 the Dutch rivalry, migrated southwards to Armegam. In 

 1639 Armegam in its turn gave way to Fort St. George, 

 Madras, which in 1653 was raised to the rank of an in- 

 dependent presidency. Between this young growing factory 

 and the Court of the Hon. East India Company there was 

 considerable correspondence, and interesting extracts are 

 made in the Diary and Consultation Book of the Agent 

 and Governor. In their despatch dated February 8, 1681, 

 the Court wrote as follows : — " And we do further order 

 that you make the like provision of 300 tons Reddwood for 

 our next yeares shipping. The Dutch call this Reddwood 

 by the name of Calliature wood, and we do p the 

 Nathaniell and Williamson send a pattern therof which 

 came from India. We are informed that it costs about 

 25 Pag° p candy, they are usually in pieces of about 

 3 yards long but you may have it sawed into pieces of 

 about 2 foot more or less as the Coiuanders shall desire 

 for conveniency, it being to be ground to powder here and 

 used m dying." 



Contracts for the supply of the wood were negotiated 

 by the Governor, and the question of advances was settled 

 with the merchants. In September, 1682, the following 

 entry in the Diary occurs : — " The Calliature or Redwood 

 merchants having made a contract with y* Agent, &c., 

 for — candy of red wood, declared that without they 

 might have half the money before hand they could not 

 comply with their contract w '^^ upon their promise of 

 giving security was granted them." 



Redwood was frequently used as ballast in home-going 

 ships. A specific case is recorded in the Diary for 

 1682 : — " Captain Willshaw of the Resolution complained 

 that he would not be able to ride out y® storm without 

 sufficient Quintelage [ballast] therefor ordered that the 

 warehousekeeper doe lade on board him 100 : Tonns salt- 

 petre and what Calliature wood can be got to stiffen his 

 ship and inable him the better to ride out y* storm." 



In 1683 the Governor found it necessary to define the 

 terms of freight with Captain Willshaw, a skipper of 

 somewhat independent character. On January i the 

 following official letter was sent to him : — " Wee do like- 

 wise acquaint you concerning Redwood or Calliature wood 

 that (provided you are fully laden) except you are con- 

 tented to receive but half freight for it wee shall not lade 

 any upon your ship wee being ordered to send none home 

 upon any other terms than that to which wee desire your 

 answer that accordingly wee may lade or not lade the 

 same upon you." Willshaw replied: — "As to the other 

 particulars of the redwood I shall be willing to take it in 

 for £g 10 p Tunne being the ^ freight of Grosse goods 

 provided that according to contract your wori' may have 

 men aboard to saw and split it to which if yo"^ wori' and 

 Councell will not condescend I am as ready to deliver 

 both the petre and w<K)d as I was willing to request the 

 Lading it on board for the securitie of his Ma"'='* subjects 

 and the Companys concern therefore desire to know your 

 Resolution till when none of the Petre or wood shall be 

 stowed away but what is already stowed." 



During the years 1683 and 1684 various payments were 

 ordered to be made to the redwood merchants for the 

 Honble. Company's account, and orders were regularly 

 issued to the warehousemen to load the wood on English 

 ships in the harbour. In order to maintain the supply in 

 Madras, " Generalls " or letters were addressed to the 

 northern factories in Vizagapatam and Masulipatam with 

 requisitions for the wood to be sent down in coasting 

 vessels. 



In 1685 as much as 1337 pagodas were paid to the local 

 redwood merchants in seven instalments during the year. 

 Calculating the pagoda at qs., this amounts to 605/. This, 

 however, indicates only a portion of the trade for the 

 year. 



Reference to " The Private Diary of .\nanda Ranga 

 Pillai from 1736 to 1761 " proves that the trade in red- 

 sanders w<xxl was still brisk. In 1743 the ship Fleury 

 sailed for France with 1000 candies (candy = 500 lb.) and 

 the Pht'nix with 2000 candies of redwood. It might be 

 mentioned that the James and Mary, that gave its name 

 to the dreaded sandbank in the Hooghly, and was wrecked 

 on September 24, 1694, carried a cargo of redwood taken 

 up at Madras. 



In the " Letters received by the East India Company 



