270 EAMBLE8 OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XVI. 



this tree, and of the female flowers in spirits, as possessing 

 especial interest for the pharmaceutical botanist. But, 

 although to all appearance it would do well, no one has 

 taken up the matter of cultivating them, and the existing 

 trees are quite neglected. For this reason also I was unable 

 to procure any specimen of the gamboge produced by them, 

 though I was informed by the Chinese gardener who showed 

 me the trees that incisions were made in this bark, and 

 small bamboos were applied to the incised spots to receive 

 the juice. Hence the Pipe-gamboge of commerce. I may 

 add that the soil on which the Gamboge appears to thrive so 

 well is a reddish sandy soil, containing a little clay, but a 

 larger proportion of sand. 



This brief account of the past cultivation of Singapore 

 would not be complete without some mention of two plants 

 which have been largely planted by the natives, though the 

 cultivation of them is now on the decline. These are 

 Gambler (Uncaria Gambir) and Pepper. With regard to the 

 first of these — gambler — the mode of its preparation de- 

 mands a very considerable supply of firewood ; and therefore 

 it has always been planted in clearances made in the jungles 

 of the interior of the island, and distant from the town. 

 Here the planters squatted, an ' . >£ for a long while suc- 

 cessfully cultivated this favourite ^ ^sticatory. The gambler 

 plant is a creeping annual, and rises to the height of six or 

 seven feet. In eight months the young plants are fit to be 

 cut ; and the young leaves and shoots are cropped and 

 boiled ; and the extract thus obtained is evaporated to a 

 paste, dried, and cut in smaU blocks an inch square, which are 

 then ready for the market. The workers in these planta- 

 tions are exclusively Chinese ; and the proprietors are also 

 of that nation. The gambler is a plant which very rapidly 



