7036 Natural-History Collectors. 



How much it is to be wished that this country should one day pass 

 into the hands of a liberal and enlightened nation, such as England, 

 for then it would become the abundant granary of the East. Egypt, 

 formerly so celebrated for the fertility of its soil, the variety of its 

 productions and the overflowing of the Nile, is far from being equal 

 to the kingdom of Siam. The tree which produces the gum gutte is 

 found on Mount Sabab, though not so frequently as in Cambodia. 

 It blossoms during the cold season, in the months of November and 

 December, so that at present 1 can only send you a few specimens of 

 the wood. The trees which produce the eagle wood are rather common 

 in this and the neighbouring provinces : the Annamites of Chantaburi 

 who pay their tribute, or rather their personal tax, with it, make a 

 secret of the indications by which it is known. The information 

 which I have, however, been able to procure has put me in the way, 

 and having caused several of these trees to be cut down upon the 

 mountain I have made the following remarks. The tree which contains 

 the eagle wood ought to give a hollow sound when struck with the 

 back of the hatchet, because it is only in the cavities it is found. 

 The older the tree is the more it generally contains. In the trunk 

 there is also to be found a few empty knots, from which escapes the 

 smell of the eagle wood, more or less strong, but as to the quahty and 

 quantity it depends entirely on the chance one has to fall in with a 

 good tree. I now send you some specimens of this wood, of the stem 

 of the eagle wood, also a quantity of other gums, Indian rubber, gutta 

 percha, &c., found here, and are also very common in the large and 

 mountainous island of of Ko-chang, situated near Thung Tai. 

 Unfortunately on my return from exploring the islands and being at 

 Pak-nam-ven, my servants having lighted a fire to keep off the mos- 

 quitoes I had one morning all the skin of my bark consumed, and 

 also my finest specimens of gum, which I had collected in the bamboos. 

 However, it will be difficult even to obtain anything from that island, 

 which is almost a desert, and is the terror of the natives on the coast, 

 on account of the ferocity of the tigers which infest it. 



Among the Stieng Savages, Brelum, October 15th, 1859, North 

 Lat. 11° AQ' 30". Long 103° 3', East of Paris, — I profit by 

 a favourable opportunity which has just presented itself to 

 write you a few hasty lines, and to give you signs of life : for 

 the last two months I have been among the Stieng savages in 



