MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



On the Guliga of Bobneo. 



The Guliga, more commonly known as Bezoar, forms a recog- 

 nised article of export from the Eejang and Bintulu rivers in the 

 Sarawak territory. These concretions are chiefly obtained from a 

 red monkey (a species of SemnopitJiecus), which seems to be very 

 abundant in the interior districts of Borneo. A more valuable 

 Guliga, called the "Guliga Landak," is obtained from the porcupine, 

 but it is comparatively rare. The Sepoys stationed at Sibu Eort 

 in the Eejang formerly exported considerable numbers of these 

 calculi to Hindustan, where, in addition to their supposed efficacy 

 as an antidote for the poison of snakes and other venomous crea- 

 tures, they appear to be applied, either alone or in combination 

 with other medicines, to the treatment of fevers, asthmatic complaints, 

 general debility, &c. A few years ago, however, these men ceased 

 to send any but the Guliga Landak, since their hakims had informed 

 them that the concretions obtained from the monkeys had come to 

 be considered of very doubtful, if any, value from a medicinal point 

 of view. 



The usual test for a good Guliga is to place a little chunam 

 on the hand, and to rub the Guliga against it, when, if it be genuine, 

 the lime becomes tinged with yellow. Imitations are by no means 

 rare, and on one occasion which came to my own knowledge some 

 Bakatans succeeded in deceiving the Chinamen, who trade in these 

 articles, by carefully moulding some fine light clay into the form 

 of a Bezoar, and then rubbing it well all over with a genuine one 

 The extreme lightness of a real Guliga, and the lime test are, how- 

 ever, generally sufficient to expose a counterfeit Bezoar. The 



