498 TANNING SUBSTANCES. 



EXPENDITURE. 



drs. c. men. drs. c, 

 Eight men at 3^ dollars and 7 Java rupees per \ 



month, wages for headman and labourers | 22 70 . . 12 . . 272 40 



respectively ) 



Five piculs of rice, including commission, say 6 s0 . .12.. 8160 



Fish, &c 5 ..12.. 60 



Boat or cart hire to carry rice and produce If ..12.. 21 



435 



PRODUCE. 



170 piculs of gambier, valued at I dollar 45 cents \ 



per picul, less 15 cents commission charge- > 221 30 

 able, nett ) 



70 piculs of pepper, at 4| dollars, less 40 cents \ 2 7 A 508 



per picul commission, nett ) 



Yearly profit, 73 dollars, or about 15. 



Several gambier and pepper plantations have been abandoned in 

 Singapore, partly from the ground being impoverished, but more 

 particularly from the exhaustion of the forest adjacent to their 

 estates. The exhaustion of the trees by yearly consumption de- 

 prives the planters of the necessary fire wood which is used for 

 the boiling down of the gambier. A gambier plantation gets ex- 

 hausted in fifteen years, either from the want of firewood or the 

 land getting impoverished. 



There are about 200 plantations at Johore, and the produce of 

 gambier for the season of 1851 was calculated at 30,000 piculs. 



This shrub was, at one period, cultivated with success at Pinang 

 and other places to the eastward, but as Java was the principal 

 market for the produce, and the Dutch had levied a duty of twelve 

 Java rupees per picul on it, the cultivation at the former island 

 did not repay its cost, and it was accordingly abandoned. Prices 

 have been lately advancing, and the Chinese are talking of trying 

 it again. The plant is partial to hilly land or slopes at the skirts 

 of hills. Two hundred plants are usually placed on one orlong 

 of land, being six feet asunder. They are raised from seed, and 

 are topped to eight or ten feet, when the gambier is to be prepared. 

 The Chinese dry the seed slightly, and sow in rainy weather. 



The seeds vegetate in forty days, and are planted out in the 

 second or third month afterwards. 



At the expiration of fourteen months, the first cutting of the 

 branches, with the leaves on, is made. These are put into a boiler, 

 and when tli3 juice has been extracted, the branches and refuse 

 are thrown away, and the boiling is continued until the liquor has 

 obtained the proper consistence, when it is put into shallow 

 troughs, dried, and cut into slices for sale. The second cutting 

 takes place eight months subsequently to the first. The plant now 

 grows strong and admits of frequent cropping, and it will endure 

 for twenty years. No manure is used, but the plantation is kept 

 clean. 



Estimated cost of cultivating ten orlongs, about 13 acres, accord- 

 ing to Colonel Low : 



