NOTES ON GUTTA PEEOHA. 01 



.den, so that we may now confidently look forward to an 

 elucidation of the greater part of the confusion that has 

 hitherto existed in connection with this subject. 



As regards Urceola the authors of the " Genera Planta- 

 riim " give " Species 4 Peninsulas Mai ay an 88 Archipelagique 

 u incohe."' 



Referring to Mr. Burbidge's remarks abont the Artocarpecu 

 I may say that the veteran collector Mr. Thos. Lobb once 

 showed me a specimen of a rubber which he had collected 

 in Borneo some 25 years previously from an Artocarpad, 

 and whu-h was then in a capital state of preservation ; whereas 

 the best u Ceara-scrap rubber' 7 will not resist the action of 

 the atmosphere nearly so long. 



As regards the species of the genus Ficus. the natives of 

 Perak have tried all the indigenous species, but with the 

 exception of F. elastica, which produces " gidta ra?ribong" 

 none has been found to yield a marketable gutta and the milk 

 obtained from them is, at best, only fit for bird-lime. 



A very important point is the mode of collecting and pre- 

 paring. The S. American rubbers, which are the best in the 

 London markets, are prepared in a very different manner to 

 the slovenly, indolent mode carried out by Malays, and I 

 have not the slightest hesitation in saying that if the Mala- 

 yan rubbers were prepared in the same way as the S. Ameri- 

 can, a larger demand would arise for them, and materially 

 higher prices be easily obtained than at present. As an in* 

 stance 1 may state that a sample that I collected in Singapore, 

 which was allowed simply to coagulate without the addition of 

 salt or other foreign substance, was submitted by Professor 

 Dj r er to competent judges in London, and they reported that 

 "The quality is very fair. The "present marketable value is 

 about Is. od. per lb.; and on applying to Mr. Robt. Campbell 

 he informed me that the price they paid iu London was only 

 Is. for the best brands prepared in the usual way. 



H. J. MURTON. 



29th July, 1872. 



