190 GAMBIR. 



seventy plantations of tlie pepper- vine upon the 

 island. 



At Rhio, as well as in Gambir manufactories 

 generally, the whole of the leaves, (and some- 

 times even the stalks,) without any regard to 

 their selection, are used. It appears, also, that 

 when the qualie, or cauldron, is new, the extract 

 prepared in it becomes very dark, and is sold 

 only as a second quality at Rhio, and is almost 

 unsaleable in the Java market : after the caul- 

 dron, however, has been in use for one or two 

 years, the extract manufactured in it becomes of 

 a much lighter colour. As the cauldrons are 

 made principally of bark, it must be some colour- 

 ing matter in it that is bestowed upon'the extract ; 

 from this circumstance the old cauldrons are held 

 more in estimation than the new. It appears that 

 the white kind made at Rhio, by the women in 

 their own houses, is not a regular article of com- 

 merce ; but is preferred by a few for its refined 

 appearance : it is prepared and brought into a 

 white state, by the extract being re-dissolved, 

 and passed through several washings, until the 

 sediment has become of a white colour, when it 

 is taken out, formed into cakes, and dried in the 

 sun. It is rarely used in comparison with the 

 other kinds of the Gambir extract. 



As we left the plantations, and entered the 



