154 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



Their value, however, does not merely rise with their weight, 

 but, as in the case of precious stones, rises out of all proportion 

 with the mere increase in weight. A guliga weighing 1 

 ringgit ( 8 may am ) costs $600, whereas one of the weight of 3 

 may am w r ill only be worth $100. 



For guligas, particularly large ones, extraordinary prices 

 are sometimes paid. The Sultan of Siak possesses one said to 

 be valued at §900. 



Natives maintain that they are an almost infallible medicine 

 in cases of chest or bowel complaints, but their principal 

 value is founded on their reputed virtue as a powerful aphro- 

 disiac. To operate in this way, one is worn on the navel tied 

 up in a piece of cloth, or water in which one has been soaked 

 is drunk. 



The gaharu merupa is a piece of strangely formed 

 gdharu wood having a rough resemblance to some living crea- 

 ture, be it a bird, a dog, a cat or something else. 



The writer of these lines has never been able to see one 

 of these gaharu merupa, and it would seem that none have 

 been found in Siak in recent times. 



The power which it is believed to possess rests on the sup- 

 position that it is the spirit of the kayu gaharu. With it in 

 hand, the holder is sure to make large finds of gdharu wood in 

 the jungle. 



The gaharu wocd is not the wood of a tree named gaharu, 

 but is the product of a tree of the name of ~karas. When 

 this tree has died of old age and has fallen in the jungle, the 

 w T ood, by some chemical process, forms into the substance 

 known as kayu gaharu. Sot all dead haras trees, however, 

 contain gaharu wood, whereas some will yield as much as two 

 pikuls. Peculiar qualifications are required before a man can 

 tell beforehand whether a log will contain any of the treasured 

 odorific wood. The persons w 7 ho possess the power of fore- 

 telling this are called pawang. The same name is used for 

 people able to find other products. To find, for instance, with 

 any certainty and quickly, articles like tin or camphor, a 

 person must be a pawang. 



Gaharu wood fetches §0.50 to §1.00 a Jcati, according to 

 quality. 



