92 DAMMAR AND WOOD OIL. 



produces a soft resin very sticky, of a bottle green colour when 

 thin, and black when in mass. 



Damar minyak is the name given to the turpentine of the 

 large Conifer Damara Orientalis, which grows in the hill ranges 

 of Penang, Perak, etc. This tree abounds in the turpentine, 

 which is very liquid. I have seen it poured out in large quanti- 

 ties from cut roots of a big tree on the Thaiping hills. Cooke 

 states that it was sold to varnish makers under the name of East 

 India Dammar, and that it is much esteemed by natives for incense. 



Kelulut Damar. This is a black or more rarely grey Dammar 

 obtained from the nest of the little stingless bees known as Trigo- 

 na. There are several species here which make dammar nests. The 

 commonest appears to be T. laeviceps, a small black kind ; there 

 is also a light brown kind, and a very small black species which 

 frequently nests under the planks in houses. In the case of 

 T. laeviceps, the nest is built in a hollow tree at the entrance to 

 which the bees build a trumpet shaped or flattened tube projecting 

 for six inches or more from the tree. From one nest I obtained 

 a very large cylindrical tube a foot long ending in a flat spoon 

 shaped portion. These tubes are made of a sticky resin, too 

 adhesive for any insect except a Trigona to walk over, so that 

 enemies cannot invade the nest. The nest itself consists of an 

 irregular mass of dammar, in which are placed the detached 

 elliptic cells, in which is often a good deal of black honey. The 

 mass of dammar in old nests is often very large and must repre- 

 sent a vast amount of work on the part of these little bees. Both 

 the dammar and honey are sought by Malays, and used as 

 medicine and the resin also for torches, etc. The tube at the 

 entrance pounded up is rubbed over the body in cases of rheuma- 

 tism. The presence of a Kelulut's nest in a tree is not necessarily 

 injurious to the tree. Very large nests may occur in trees for 

 many years without causing any appreciable injury. On the 

 other hand it is very probable that they prevent further decay 

 by sealing up the injured wood in dammar, and by preventing 

 termites from effecting a lodgment in the tree. One species of 

 Kelulut makes its nest in that of one of the termites underground 

 usually at the foot of a large tree. There appears to have been 

 some question as to what tree the Kelulut obtained its dammar 

 from, as it has long been noticed (Cook's Gums and Resins) that 



