SAXCUTLS DRAC0NI8. (i?:} 



the rest of mankind they have to content themselves with the plentiful 

 drug of Sumatra and Borneo, instead of the more ancient sort produced 

 in Socotra. 



The first clear account of the production of the resin in India is that 

 given by Rumphius, who in his Herhariiirti Amboliiense^ describes the 

 process by which it is collected at Palembang. 



Production — The fruit of Calamus Draco, which is produced in 

 panicles in great profusion, is globose and of the size of a large cherry, 

 clothed with smoothed downward-overlapping scales. These scales are 

 sub-quad langular, thick and shell-like, marked with a longitudinal 

 furrow; the largest, which are found towards the middle of the fruit, 

 are 2 lines long by 3 broad. At maturity the fruit is covered with an 

 exudation of red resin, which encrusts it so abundantly that the form of 

 the scales can hardly be seen. 



The resin, which is naturally friable, is collected by gathering the 

 fruits, and shaking or beating them in a sack, by which process it is 

 soon separated. It is then sifted to remove from it scales and other 

 portions of the fruit. By exposure to the heat of the sun or in a 

 covered vessel to that of boiling water, the resin is so far softened that 

 it can be moulded into sticks or balls, which are forthwith wrapped in 

 a piece of palm leaf It is thus that the best dragon's blood, or jerna^ig, 

 is obtained. An inferior quality is got by boiling the pounded fruits in 

 water, and making the resin into a mass, frequently with the addition 

 of other substances by way of adulteration. The foregoing is the 

 account of the manufacture of the drug given by Blume.^ 



Description — Dragon's Blood is found in commerce chiefly in two 

 forms, known respectively as Heed and Lump. 



1. Reed Dragon's Blood (Dragon's Blood in sticks. Sanguis 

 draconis in baculis). Some of line quality purchased in London in 

 1842 is in sticks 13 to 14 inches in length, and f to 1 inch in 

 diameter, neatly wrapped in palm-leaf, secured by 8 or 9 transverse 

 bands of some flexible grass. The average weight of each stick, 

 including the enveloping leaf, is five ounces. The resin has evidently 

 been wrapt up while soft, as the sticks are furrowed longitudinally by 

 pressure of the surrounding leaf. The smooth surface is of an intense 

 blackish-brown ; when seen in thin splinters the resin appears trans- 

 parent, and of a pure and brilliant crimson. The fractured surface 

 looks resinous and rough, is a little porous, and contains numerous 

 particles of the scales of the fruit. Rubbed on paper it leaves a red 

 mark of not very splendid tint. Heated with alcohol it left 20 per cent, 

 of pulverulent residue consisting chiefly of vegetable matter. Sticks 

 of smaller size are more common. 



2. Lump Dragon's Blood (Sanguis draconis in massis) is imported 

 in large rectangular blocks or irregular masses. From the fine Heed 

 Dragon's Blood, just described, it differs in containing a larger propor- 

 tion of remains of the fruit, including numerous entire scales. Hence 

 it has a coarser fracture, and the fractured surface is less intense in 

 tint. Its taste is slightly acrid. Exhausted with alcohol it 

 leaves a residue amounting in the specimen we tested to 27 per cent.. 



' Pars. V. (1747) 114-11.5. tab. 58. ^ Rumphia, iii. (1847) 9. tab. 131. 132. 



2 U 



