SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 223 



and the Philippines," states that in many of the houses in the capital the 

 outer side of the verandah or corridor is composed of coarse and dark- 

 coloured mother of pearl shells of little value, set in a wooden frame-work 

 of small squares forming windows, which move on slides. Although the 

 light admitted through this sort of window is much inferior to what glass 

 would give, it has the advantage of being strong, and is not very liable to be 

 damaged by the severe weather to which it is occasionally exposed during 

 some months of the year. 



Many of the Dyaks of Borneo have a large polished pearl shell appended 

 in front to their corslet, and their shields are ornamented with shells. 



All that extensive range from Cape Unsing, passing by the Tawi Tawi 

 Islands and Sulo as far as Baselan, is one vast continued bed of pearl 

 oysters, principally of the mother of pearl shell species ; these are 

 called by the natives tipi. There is likewise an extensive bed of the Ceylon 

 oyster, called by the Malays Kapis ; the principal banks of the latter are 

 found in Maludu Bay. The Sulo pearls have from time immemorial 

 been the most celebrated, and praised as the most valuable of any in the 

 known world. Pigofitta, the companion of Magalbaens, mentions having 

 seen in 1520 two Sulo peaids in the possession of the Rajah of Borneo as 

 large as pullets' eggs. Very large. ones, from 100 to 200 chow weight, are 

 at all times to be purchased at Sulo, and there are altogether sold here to 

 the China junks, the Spaniards, &c, more than two laks of dollars 

 annually. The quantity of mother of pearl shells sold there is 2,000 piculs 

 at six dollars a picul. The fishery is partly carried on by the Malays and 

 partly by the Chinese ; the large pearls they endeavour to conceal as much 

 as possible, from a law that all pearls above a certain size, of right belong 

 to the Sultan* 



.Scientific Hotes* 



Caseine Cement. — Dr. Wagner recommends using a cold saturated solution 

 of borax or alkaline silicate for dissolving caseine, instead of alkaline carbo- 

 nate, as recommended by Bracconot. The solution of caseine with borax is a 

 clear viscous liquid, exceeding gum in adhesiveness, and applicable to many 

 purposes as a substitute for glue. Woollen and cotton fabrics saturated 

 with the solution may be tanned with tannic acid or acetate of alumina, and 

 rendered waterproof. Marsden, in his " History of Sumatra," states that 

 the chief cement used there is made of the curd of the buffalo milk called 

 prackee. It is to be observed that butter is made (for the use of Europeans 

 only) not as with us, by churning, but by letting the milk stand till the 

 butter forms of itself on the top. It is then taken off with a spoon, stirred 

 about with the same in a flat vessel, and well washed in two or three waters. 

 The thick sour milk left at the bottom when the butter or cream is moved 



* Sketch of Borneo. 



