CUTCH. 



385 



The cutch of commerce is obtained chiefly from two species of 

 Acacia. The common name, catechu, under which it sometimes 

 passes, is derived from Cate, a tree, and cJiu, juice. It is usually called 

 in India kat or kut. The trees from which it is prepared are chiefly : 

 (1) Acacia Catechu, Willd. ^ Mimosa Sundra, Eoxb., a tree 80 or 40 

 feet high, with dark-grey or brown bark, reddish and fibrous inter- 

 nally. This tree is common in most parts of India and Burmah, where 

 it is highly valued for its wood, which is used for posts, and for various 

 domestic purposes, as well as for making catechu and charcoal, while 

 the astringent bark serves for tanning. (2) A. Sima, Kurz ; Mimosa 

 Suma, Roxb., is a large tree, with white bark, nearly related to the pre- 

 ceding, but not having so extensive a geographical range. It grows 

 in the south of India (Mysore), Bengal, and Guzerat. The bark is 

 used in tanning, and catechu is made from the heart-wood, but not so 

 extensively as from the former species. The process for preparing it 

 varies slightly in different districts. The tree is reckoned to be of 

 proper age when its trunk is about a foot in diameter. It is then cut 

 down, and the whole of the woody part, with the exception of the 

 smaller branches and the bark, is chopped into chips. Some accounts 

 state that only the darker heart-wood is thus used. The chips are 

 then placed with water in earthen jars, a series of which are arranged 

 over a mud-built fireplace, usually in the open air. Here the water is 

 made to boil, the liquor, as it becomes thick and strong, being 

 decanted into another vessel, in which the evajioration is continued, 

 until the extract is sufficiently inspissated, when it is poured into 

 moulds made of clay, or of leaves pinned together in the shape of 

 cups, or in some districts on to a mat covered with the ashes of cow- 

 dung ; the drying in each case being completed by exposure to the 

 sun and air. The product is a dark-brown extract, which is the usual 

 form in which cutch is known in Europe. In Kumaon, in the north 

 of India, a slight modification of the process affords a drug of very 

 different appearance. Instead of evaporating the decoction to the 

 condition of an extract, the inspissation is stopped at a certain point, 

 and the liquor allowed to cool, coagulate, and crystallise over twigs 

 and leaves thrown into the pots for the purpose. How this substar.ce 

 is finished off we do not exactly know, but it is stated that by tliis 

 process there is obtained from each pot about 2 lbs. of " katb," or 

 catechu, of an ashy whitish appearance. This product is brought 

 down from Berar and Nepaul to Calcutta. The cutch of Pegu has a 

 high reputation. Catechu contains about 50 per cent, of tannin. It 

 is used by dyers, not as a dyestuff, however, but as a source of tannic 

 acid, which it contains in a very large quantity, and this has the 

 property of forming, with a solution of a salt of sesquioxide of iron, 

 an exceedingly deep, bluish-black liquid (ink). Catechu is used also 

 in medicine as an astringent, on account of the large quantity of 

 tannic acid which it contains. 



According to some accounts cutch, or catechu, is prepared thus : 

 The tree is cut down to about 6 to 12 inches from the ground, and the 

 inner wood chopped into small pieces, the smaller branches and bark 

 being rejected. The chopped wood is then taken to the place of 

 manufacture, generally under trees in the open air, and placed over a 



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