SAFFLO WEE. — GAMBOGE. 



451 



and that from Bombay is least esteemed. The annual quantity 

 exported from the district of Dacca averages about 150 tons. The 

 shipments from Calcutta exceed 300 tons to various quarters. 

 Our imports are on the decline, and are now only about 1,200 cwt, 

 per annum. Safflower was shown in the Great Exhibition from 

 Celebes, Assam, the vicinity of Calcutta, Dacca, the states of 

 Eajpootana, and other places. 



There are two species : O. tinctorius, which has small leaves and 

 an orange flower ; and G. oxyacantlia, with larger leaves and a 

 yellow flower, a native of Caucasus. The former is cultivated in 

 Egypt, the Levant, &c., where it forms a considerable article of 

 commerce. 6,633 CAvts. of safilower were imported into the 

 United Kingdom in 1835, of which about one-half was retained for 

 home consumption. Of 5,352 cwts. imported in 1840, nearly the 

 whole came from our possessions in the East. In 1847, about 405 

 tons were imported ; in 1848, 506 tons ; in 1849, 407 tons ; in 

 1850, 522 tons. The price of safflower varies from £1 to £8 per 

 cwt., according to quality. That from Bombay is least esteemed, 

 fetching only 20s. to 30s. 



The annual quantity of safflower, according to Dr. Taylor, ex- 

 ported from the district of Dacca for eight years ending with 1839, 

 amounted to 4,000 maunds, or about 149 tons. The exports 

 through the Calcutta Custom House are occasionally large : in 

 1824-25 there were about 316 tons ; 8,500 Indian maunds were 

 shipped from Calcutta in each of the years 1841 and 1842. 



The prices in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, were for 

 Bengal, good and fine, £6 to £7 10s. per cwt. ; middling, £4 to 

 £4 10s. ; inferior and ordinary, £2 10s. to £3. 



GrAMBOGE is extensively used as a pigment, from its bright 

 yellow color. There are two kinds known in commerce, the Cey- 

 lon and the Siam. The former is procured from the Hehradendron 

 Camlogoides, Oraham ; a tree which grows wild on the Malabar 

 and Ceylon coasts, and affords the coarsest kind. The pipe gam- 

 boge of Siam is said to be obtained from the bruised leaves and 

 young branches of Stalagmites camhorjoides. The resinous sap is 

 received into calabashes, and allowed to thicken, after which it is 

 formed into rolls. Several other plants, as the Mangostana Gam- 

 hogia, Gaertner, and the Sgpericum hacciferum and Cayanense^ yield 

 similar yellow viscid exudation, hardly distinguishable from gam- 

 boge and used for the same purpose by painters. The Garcinia 

 elliijtica, Wallich, of Tavoy and Moulmeiu, affords gamboge, and 

 approaches very closely in its characters to Oraliam's Hehraden- 

 dron. In like manner the Mysore tree bears an exceedingly close 

 resemblance to that species. It is common in the forests of 

 Wynaad in the western part of Mysore, and has been named by 

 Dr. Christison Hehradendron pictorium. Another gamboge tree 

 has recently been found inhabiting the western Burmese territories. 

 Both these seem to furnish an equally fine pigment. As it can be 

 obtained in unlimited quantity, it might be introduced into 

 European trade, if the natives learn how to collect it in a stats 



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