1847.] On the Gamboge of the Tenasserim Provinces. 661 



the door faces the west instead of the east ; it may have been a 

 Budha Temple. In the verse of the inscription given by the Brahmins 

 Budda as the son of Iln is mentioned. Divesting the figures given of the 

 string of zeros, we have the dates 1293 Sumbut, or A. D. 1239, by the 

 original inscription, and A. D. 1548 orS. 1605, in that now sent, which 

 for the first gives a difference of 202 years earlier than the Oomga 

 Temple, consequently it could not have been built by Bhyrub Indra as 

 related. 



On the Gamboge of the Tenasserim Provinces, by the 

 Rev.Y. Mason, A. M. 



In conversation with a distinguished medical officer, and member of 

 the Asiatic Society, I found that he was not at all aware that the 

 Tenasserim Provinces produce Gamboge. It has therefore occurred to 

 me that a brief notice of the Gamboge of these provinces might not 

 be unacceptable to the readers of the Journal, and would contribute 

 its influence to draw attention to a most interesting portion of the 

 British Provinces in the east ; one that is exceeded by few in the rich- 

 ness and variety of its natural productions. 



Three works in my possession describe Gamboge each as the product 

 of a different tree ; a fourth represents all to be wrong, and a fifth 

 suggests a different plant, still. One refers it to Cambogia gutta, a 

 plant which, as described by Linneus, has probably no existence. He 

 described a Ceylon plant, and it is now quite evident, says Dr. Wight, 

 " that the character of the flower and ovary is taken from one specimen, 

 and that of the fruit from a different one, owing to the imperfection of 

 his specimens, and his not being aware that the lobes of the stigma 

 afford a sure indication of the number of cells of the fruit." 



Another refers it to Garcinia cambogia, but Dr. Wight says that the 

 exudation of this tree is " wholly incapable of forming an emulsion 

 with the wet finger," a statement which the writer knows to be correct. 

 The tree is very common in the Tenasserim Provinces, but the bright 

 yellow exudation it produces is certainly not Gamboge. 



A third refers it to Stalagmitis cambogioides, but Dr. Wight remarks 

 "The juice of this tree differs so very widely in its qualities from good 

 Gamboge, that it can never be expected to prove valuable as a pigment." 



