1833.] On the Native Manufacture of Turpentine. 249 
V.—On the Native Manufacture of Turpentine. 
It would be an useful point of inquiry to discover in how far we 
may turn the natural as well as artificial products of this country to 
account, without looking elsewhere, and particularly to England: in 
the shape of magazine stores, Government has from the beginning been 
importing articles of various descriptions at a great expence, and at 
great risk; many of which are not only procurable in the country, but 
to be purchased at a rate much lower, and of a quality infinitely superi- 
or, to those from England. No person acquainted with the interior of 
an arsenal or magazine, who has given the matter any consideration 
whatever, can be at a loss to see how the question applies, and both as 
a matter of economy, and as a method of introducing stores of a better 
description into the public depéts, a professional officer could not 
better apply his attention, than in endeavoring to prove to Govern- 
ment the value of such an inquiry. I will, as opportunity offers, bring 
forward points that come under my immediate observation; and al- 
though to many people the subjects of discussion may appear trifling 
and uninteresting, or unworthy of that consideration, that I am inclined 
to give them, it must still be recollected, that a very trifling saving on 
the rate of an article much in requisition is a matter of considerable 
importance, where the consumption of the article in question is great. 
In commencement of the subject, I will take the common fir (Pinus 
longifolia), native name chr, in great abundance in the lower line of 
hills that skirts the Duns, or valleys (at the foot of the Himalayas), 
and separating them from the plains. From this tree the natives obtain, 
in their rough way, tar and turpentine, and use the wood for work 
where lightness is required. The tar made by them, I imagine, is equal 
to that obtained by a more refined process, and the turpentine merely 
requires that attention which every establishment under the eye of 
skilful management could give, in producing the article as good as 
that from Europe. The method of obtaining tar, as put into practice 
by the natives at the foot of these hills, is more simple, and apparently 
better than what is described as the custom in Norway, and other 
countries in Europe, where tar is made by the foresters. The wood 
selected for the purpose is that which has either been cut or blown down 
the previous season, and which is dry. This is cut up into small pieces, 
and put into large earthen pots, holding about 10 seers (or gurtass), 
with narrow necks, through the bottom of which holes of about } of 
an inch have been drilled. A pot so filled with the wood is then luted 
over with wet mud on the top and sides, and a hole being dug in the 
K K 
