264 



brokers advised that in their opinion the rubber would be more 

 saleable if the sheets were rather thick. 



The demand for Ficus elastica is not very general. In a few 

 isolated cases orders have been received for plants but in most 

 seeds are preferred. Some tapping of Rambong was done in July 

 and some interesting experiments were carried out in making sheets 

 similar in size, thickness, etc., co those of Para. Some good sheets 

 were made of a reddish-brown colour and were exhibited at the 

 Penang show. A few trees of Castilloa elastica were tapped for 

 specimens for the Agricultural Show. The rubber turned out was 

 of fair quality and was prepared in two forms latex coagulated as 

 taken from the trees, and latex washed before coagulation. 

 The rubber coagulated as taken from the tree was almost black in 

 colour and rather sticky. That washed was a dirty white and 

 much less sticky. The elasticity of both samples appeared to be 

 about the same. The tapping was done by both herring-bone 

 and spiral methods. 



Ceara {Manihot Glaziovii). Some trees of this rubber, were 

 also tapped for the show. The flow of latex was not large but the 

 rubber turned out, which somewhat resembles Para, was excellent 

 in quality, being pronounced by a Ceara expert as quite as good a 

 sample as he had ever seen. The trees tapped were about 15 

 years old. 



On this Mr. Birch writes: — To those interested in the future 

 of the Malay race it is a matter of satisfaction that rubber 

 culture has came to stay, for the art of tapping appeals to the 

 Malay. He is very neat with his knife ; to sit in the shade and 

 earn a good wage will exactly suit his temperament. As every 

 acre will give work for one man we may hope to see, ere long, 

 thousand of Malays congenially employed. 



NOTE ON THE METHOD OF PREPARING 



DRAGON'S BLOOD. 



A Perak Malay having brought to the Exhibition a complete 

 series of articles showing the method of preparing dragon's blood, 

 I took the opportunity of eliciting from him the method of 

 preparation of this product, and obtained the complete set of the 

 articles illustrating the subject. He had brought a living plant, 

 and a portion of a stem and infrutescence of the rattan which 

 proved to be Dcemonorops propinquus Griff, and a number of 

 fruits of the same plant. With these were a quantity of cockle 

 shells, and a small bottle-shaped basket of strips of pandan leaves 

 hung by a string from a tripod of bamboo sticks. He explained 

 that the dry fruits are put into the basket with some of the 

 cockle shells and the basket then shaken, as it hangs from the 

 bamboo sticks, over a cloth. The resin on the shells of the fruit 



