12 INTRODUCTION. 
by traders, though much used in their native home. Yet species of Daemonorops 
are not wanting which supply canes not to be distinguished from the finest quality 
that Calamus can produce, and like these are objects of exportation; of such are said 
to be D. Jenkinsianus, from the north-east of India. 
The bud shoots of D. periacanthus (“ Rattan Manis” =“ sweet Rattan ”) are eatable, 
as are those of many other palms; but in most Daemonorops that part is bitter, as it 
is in Calamus. The involucro of the seed is pulpy, acidulate or sweetish, and 
refreshing in taste in many species, while the seed itself, which is ruminate and 
impregnated with tannin, can be used, before reaching complete maturity, as a 
substitute for the Areca nut, 
But the most important produce of the Daemonorops is Dragon’s Blood, called by 
the Malays “ Djernang,” which is furnished in abundance, and of the best quality, 
by D. Draco, D. Draconcellus and D. propinquus, perhaps also by D. micranthus, and 
in small quantity by D. Motleyi; a slight secretion of this drug ‘also takes place 
from the fruits of D. ruber and D. mattanensis. It would appear that D. Kurzianus 
of the Andaman group, and D. palembanicus of Sumatra, also furnish ‘* Djernang ” 
in small quantities. 
XIII.—Geographical Distribution, 
The genus Daemonorops has a geographical distribution much more restricted than 
that of the genus Calamus, but like the latter is represented by species that 
in the great majority of instances have a very restricted geographical area, and 
grow most frequently mingled with Calamus, under identical physical conditions, 
in the great forests of the regions of the Monsoons in Southern Asia, in the 
Malayan Archipelago and in the Philippines. 
The geographical area of Daemonorops is comprised between Lat. 10° S. and 
25 N.; and between Long. 89° and 132" E. Graphically, the area occupied 
by this genus would be fairly well shown on a map by a large ellipse, the 
long axis of which of about 2,500 miles, stretching from the north-west to the 
south-east, would pass through the centre of Borneo, while its shorter axis, about 
2,100 miles in length, stretching north-east and south-west, would touch the 
extreme northern point of Borneo. 
Not only therefore are no Daemonorops to be found in Africa, but even in 
India they are not met with west of Bengal; hence no representatives of this genus 
are found in Western India, in the centre and south of the Indian Peninsula, nor 
in Ceylon. 
The extreme eastern limit of Daemonorops is attained in the Aru Islands, where 
a form very closely related to the Javanese D. melunochaetes grows, which may be 
considered as the ultimate extension of that species eastwards, since the 
Daemonorops really appears to be wanting throughout New Guinea. The most 
northern species of Daemonorops is D. Jenkinsianus, at least we may so regard it, 
until the presence of a species related to D. longipes, collected by von Siebold 
