BATIKS AND FRUITS FOR DYEING AND TANNING. 63 



' si pait,' or the bitter wood : to the taste it is, as its 

 name implies, very bitter, and in substance, appearance, 

 and lightness, precisely resembles its tasteless con- 

 gener. These plants have never been as yet either 

 commercially or botanically examined, so that their 

 uses are at present unknown, but the bitter one may 

 perhaps prove valuable as a medicinal drug. The 

 timber of both these trees, though large, is white, 

 light, and useless, resembling that of the jelutong 

 already noticed. 



Dye stuffs and tannin are the produce of many 

 barks and fruits of the Indian islands, but from what 

 has been hitherto ascertained of them, they are not 

 likely to be of use except for home consumption. 



The flowers of Borneo, and of the Archipelago 

 generally, are not less grateful and beautiful than the 

 forests are grand and majestic. It has been said, 

 perhaps too hastily, that no country in the world pro- 

 duces such ravishing vegetable perfumes as the 

 Malayan islands ; and the well known and now widely 

 distributed scents of Kananga, (Uvaria), Champaka, 

 (Michelia), Melur (Jasminum), and many others, 

 would seem in a great measure to sustain them in this 

 enviable pre-eminence ; but though grateful perfumes 

 are in such profusion, the woods also abound in 

 shrubs and flowers, which delight the eye and attract 

 the curiosity by their rich and gaudy colours, or their 

 delicate and beautiful forms. As in all tropical 

 countries, the tribe Orchidaceae is in profusion and 

 beauty ; and on the open banks of the rivers, where 

 the sun can shed its vivifying influence upon them, 



