11 
oske adds, “I remember twenty years ago that i was 
collected on both of the above islands [Viti Levu and Vann 
vu] as an article of commerce. If I recollect rightly, it even 
then fetched a good i in the European markets. The export 
of it fell off owing to the difficulty of getting the natives to 
continue steadily at the industry, and owing to the fact also that 
settlers hoped to do better with what they then considered more 
important articles such as cotton, sugar and coffee 
It is possible that under the stimulus of higher priees rubber 
gathering in Fiji may be revived. It is evident, however, that 
George O'Bri soft and v n 
the Mr ls with little or no daba. ds Secr re i Maie 
value 
A ida er specimen, received in June last, was not so viscid, but 
n Im 
it gradually became hard and inelastic. Mr. mes confirms 
Mr. Horne that no milk is obtlinátile from the ste 
With the above was ene closed a sample of i i from a tree 
known as “ Baka” (Ficus obliqua Forst. M According to 
are placed €: ire receive the sap as it pours out. It is 
gosquialod by me of heat, the natives say they 
could im ends. po of this ‘hous much trouble. 
Were it a that the rubber was of commercial value it 
would prove an estimable boon to the natives of these islands." 
Although the specimens of “Baka” rubber received at Kew 
had not been sufficiently coagulated, it was regarded by Messrs. 
Hecht, Levis, and Kahn as suitable for mud por poms and 
its value mit was placed at 1s. to 1s. 3d. per p 
A substance obtained from the “ = ” tree, er a member 
of the Sapotaceae, but, in the abse of flowers, otherwise x 
determinable, cud slightly elastic eT might command a sale a 
10d. to 1s. per 
Other specimens, obtained from the * Wasalili " (Carruthersia 
scandens, Seem.) and the * Malawaci" (Trophis anthropopha- 
gorum, Seem.), were entirely deficient of elastic properties and 
ported to be of no commercial value. 
V.—COAGULATION OF RUBBER-MILK. 
[K.B., 1898, pp. 177-181.] 
The extensive use of India-rubber in the arts and manufac- 
tures, renders the production of this substance a matter of 
general interest. One of the most important problems that awaits 
solution is a Fs s effective means for coagulating the 
In the following paper, which has recently appeared in 
