JtJLY, 1909.] 



7 



Saps and Exudations. 



said not to be, and motor-cars, cham- 

 pagne, &c, are stated to be in less 

 demand. 



" I therefore feel that we can take 

 to-day's trade as a good average, and 

 this at present brings in too high a price 

 fdr rubber to put tyres and floorings on 

 a popular basis. I agree with those who 

 maintain that when Para rubber comes 

 permanently to 2s. 6d. per lb., so many 

 uses will be made of it, that all the areas 

 under cultivation even then will be well 

 employed to supply the demand. 



" Of the Eastern centres, I would fear 

 Ceylon the least ; it deserves all it can 

 get, but its soil tends to be worked out. 

 Malaya, with its virgin soil and large 

 uncultivated tracts, is more dangerous, 

 but lacks labour. Brazil's most dan- 

 gerous rival in the future will be Java, 

 with its teeming industrious population, 

 who are just the class to work rubber, 

 as it is not an exacting crop, and enables 

 the Javanese to go home and plant and 

 gather in their rice. If, in face of all 

 this, Brazil ever allows herself to be 

 cut out by the East it will be entirely 

 her own fault, for she has the cards in 

 her hand. We understand that besides 

 cultivating the areas already worked, 

 Brazil has still vast areas untouched. 



" Let the States, therefore, really 

 federate and co-operate together, aud 

 not put on vexatious inter-State restric- 

 tions and taxes. Put motor-boats on the 

 rivers, and encourage men capable of 

 developing her cultivated rubber and 

 other resources without destroying them 

 to go up into the interior to bring down 

 the rubber, paying a royalty on the 

 same to one centre only, not a tax. to 

 each State that they have to pass 

 through. If Brazil does this she would 

 attract outside labour and capital to 

 develop her dormant riches." 



KAPHIA WAX. 



(Prom the Bulletin of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute, Vol. VI., No. 4, 1908.) 

 In a communication ma J to the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences in December, 1905, 

 Professor M. H. Jumelle of Marseilles 

 drew attention to a vegetable wax, pre- 

 pared by the natives in certain districts 

 of Madagascar, from the leaves of the 

 raphia palm (Raphia Ruffia), well known 

 as the source of the "bass" used by 

 gardeners for attaching plants to stakes. 

 A fuller account of the preparation of 

 this material was given in the Bulletin 

 Economique de Madagascar (1906, 6. 48). 

 As it appeared, from the first accounts 

 published, that this product might be 

 of some economic value, the Director of 



the Imperial Institute applied to H.M. 

 Consul at Tamatave for samples of the 

 wax, and these were supplied early in 

 1907. The wax has now been examined, 

 and submitted for technical trial to 

 manufacturers. As the results of this 

 work present many points of interest, it 

 has been thought desirable to give a 

 short account of it in the Bulletin. 



Raphia bass consists of the epidermal 

 portion of the upper side of the leaf of 

 the raphia palm. When the leaf opens 

 out, the two surfaces which have been 

 in coutact in the young stage form the 

 upper surface of the leaf. This has a 

 glossy epidermis, which, on being strip- 

 ped off, forms the raphia bass. It is on 

 the dull under surface of the leaf that 

 the wax occurs as a whitish layer or 

 bloom, readily detachable by rubbing 

 lightly with the finger. 



It is from the residues of the leaves 

 left after the extraction of the bass, that 

 the wax has, up to the present, been 

 obtained. These residues, called by the 

 natives " Taimbontgona," are available 

 in large quantities in the neighbour- 

 hood of the raphia groves which have 

 been worked for bass. They are spread 

 out to dry on cloths in the open air, 

 sheltered from the wind, as even a slight 

 breeze is sufficient to blow away much 

 of the light waxy matter. The drying 

 usually takes from two to four days, and 

 at the end of that time a white pellicle is 

 apparent on the under surfaces of the 

 leaves. It is then only necessary to 

 shake the leaves or to rub them between 

 the hands to cause the waxy matter to 

 detach itself, mostly in the form of 

 powder or fine dust. The powder is 

 collected, sifted from foreign material, 

 and placed in boiling Water, when the 

 wax melts and floats to the surface, 

 whilst any earthy impurity settles to 

 the bottom. The liquefied wax is then 

 transferred to a receiver, where it is 

 allowed to cool and solidify. The pro- 

 duct thus prepared is yellow to dark 

 brown in colour, rather harder and more 

 brittle than beeswax. 



The following quantities are given as 

 the yields of bass and wax in an experi- 

 mental extraction of these products in 

 Madagascar. The experiment was made 

 on ten raphia palm leaves of medium 

 size (3£ to i\ metres in length) :— 



Kilos. 



Total weight of leaves ... 104*5 

 Weight of dry bass obtained 4"6 

 Weight of dry residue (less the 



ribs of leaves) 11 "0 



Weight of wax after preparation 0"78 



In this experiment the yield of wax 

 was equal to 0*75 per cent, of the weight 



