THE FICUS ELASTICA. 17 



from Java, Penang, Singapore, and Assam. About three years 

 ago, Mr. Wm. Griffith pubHshed an interesting report upon the 

 Ficus elastica, the caoutchouc tree of Assam, which he drew up 

 at the request of Captain Jenkins, agent in that country, for the 

 governor-general of India. This remarkable fig tree is either 

 solitary, or in two-fold or three-fold groups. It is larger, and 

 more umbrageous than any of the other trees in the extensive 

 forest where it abounds, and may be distinguished from the 

 other trees, at a distance of several miles, by the picturesque 

 appearance produced by its dense, huge and lofty crown. The 

 main trunk of one was carefully measured, and was found to 

 have a circumference of no less than seventy-four feet ; while the 

 girth of the main trunk, along with the support immediately 

 around it, was one hundred and twenty feet. The area covered 

 by the expanded branches, had a circumference of six hundred 

 and ten feet. The height of the central tree was one hundred 

 feet. 



" It has been estimated, after an accurate survey, that there 

 are forty-three thousand two hundred and forty such noble trees 

 within a length of thirty miles, and breadth of eight miles, of 

 forest near Ferosepoor, in the district of Chardwar, in Assam. 



From Ure's Dictionary of Arts, &c. : — 



" Caoutchouc. Caoutchouc occurs as a milky juice, in several 

 plants, such as the siphonia cahuca, called also hevea guainensis 

 cautschuc, jatropha elastica, castilliga elastica, cecropia pellata, 

 ficus religiosa and undica, urceolaria elastica, &c. It is, how- 

 ever, extracted chiefly from the first plant, which grows in South 

 America and Java. 



" Its specific gravity is 0.925. It melts at 248° Fahrenheit, 

 and stands afterwards a much higher heat without undergoing 

 any further change. 



" It has lately been employed very extensively in making 

 elastic bands or braces. The original manufacturer of these 

 elastic webs is a major in the Austrian service, who erected a 

 great factory at St. Deny's, near Paris, 1803. 



" Caoutchouc, according to my experiments, which have been 



tfi2J9 



