PHILIPPINE TERPENES AND ESSENTIAL OILS, III. 95 



the same odor as elemi, and would hardly be confused with true Manila 

 ■elemi by anyone familiar with these resins. It is also possible that 

 Tschirch's resin is the dipterocarpous resin from balao or apitong which 

 in appearance is deceptively like elemi, but which has a decidedly dif- 

 ferent odor and the volatile oils of which are sesquiterpenes rather 

 than terpenes. 



The present condition of the Manila elemi industry is not very satis- 

 factory. In several localities, especially in Tayabas Province in the 

 neighborhood of Atimonan, the trees are regularly tapped and in past 

 times the collection of elemi was one of the important industries of this 

 province. The trees are usually owned in small holdings. The Bureau 

 •of Forestry assesses the trees at 50 centavos each and all minor forest 

 products, such as resins, pay a tax of 10 per cent of their value at the 

 place of collection. The resin is bought up by the small Chinese traders 

 -who then ship it to Manila. In recent years these Chinese traders have 

 •shown no eagerness to buy elemi, so that the native is either not able 

 to sell his product at all or must accept a very small price for it. This 

 price, since the collectors are a very primitive and ignorant class of men, 

 naturally varies much with the personal needs and desires of these 

 natives. In Calaoag, Tayabas Province, clean, white, fresh elemi is 

 Talued at 40 centavos per arroba of 11.5 kilos. Wlien it is transported 

 to Atimonan, Tayabas, 35 kilometers distant, it has a value of 1 peso 

 for the same quantity and by the time it has reached Manila its value 

 has risen to about 3 pesos. The market value in Europe is several times 

 this amount. I quote these figures because they are typical of the con- 

 •dition under which all minor, tropical forest products are marketed. 

 The native collectors usually live in the forests entirely out of touch 

 with civilization, and know nothing of the real value of the products 

 which they handle. Some of the resin is shipped from Manila to 

 Europe for use in medicinal ointments, and to a smaller extent in 

 lithographic inks, and in varnishes, while much of the product is sent 

 to China, where it is used to make transparent paper to be employed 

 for window panes, in place of glass. 



The resin flows in the bark principally at the time when new leaves 

 are coming out on the trees. This occurs most abundantly about the 

 months of January and of June in the great collecting district around 

 Atimonan, Tayabas. At other times of the year, when the tree is 

 losing its leaves, it is not possible to obtain a flow of resin. The natives 

 hack the tree with holos, and the resin flows out through the cuts and 

 'Collects on the bark of the trees. It is then scraped off every few days 

 'before it has an opportunity to become dirty or hard. From observations 

 made at the time, I should estimate that healthy, mature trees will 

 .average 4 to 5 kilos of resin per year. I have seen as much as 33 kilos of 

 •elemi on one large tree, representing a two months' flow of the resin. 



