500 



TANNING SUBSTANCES. 



sold in the bazars in small packets, each containing five or six. 

 The third quality contains more impurities than the preceding, is 

 formed into small circular cakes, and is sold in packages of five or 

 six in the bazar. 



The method employed in preparing the extract is thus correctly 

 related by Einlayson : — " The leaves are collected three or four 

 times a year ; they are thrown into a large cauldron, the bottom of 

 which is formed of iron, the upper part of bark, and boiled for five 

 or six hours, until a strong decoction is obtained ; the leaves are 

 then withdrawn, and allowed to strain over the vessel, which is 

 kept boiling for as many hours more, until the decoction is inspis- 

 sated ; it is then allowed to cool, when the catechu subsides, The 

 water is dra^^^l off"; a soft soapy substance remains, which is cut 

 into large masses ; these are further divided by a knife into small 

 cubes, about an inch square, or into still smaller pieces, which are 

 laid in frames to dry. This catechu has more of a granular, uniform 

 appearance than that of Bengal ; it is, perhaps, also less pure." 



The younger leaves of the shrub are said to produce the whitest 

 and best gambier ; the older, a brown and inferior sort. There are 

 other species of JSfauclea indigenous to Singapore, but they do not 

 produce any extract. 



Dr. Bennett has particularised four qualities of gambier : — 



1. Small round cakes, about the size of a small lozenge. Color 

 pale, purplish, yellowish, white. 



2. Cubes, in which shape it is principally imported into England^ 

 and square prisms, or oblong pieces. 



3. Circular discs, or short cylindrical pieces. 



4. Cubical amylaceous pieces, of a darker brown than the other 

 kinds. 



Gambier is one of the most powerful of the pure astringents. 

 The chief places of manufacture are Saik, Malacca, Singapore, 

 and Ehio or Bintang. Bennett, in his " Wanderings," says there 

 are 60,000 plantations of gambier on this island. After that of 

 Ehio, the next best gambier is that of Lingin. That used by the 

 Malays, with the leaves of betel, in the same manner as cutch in 

 other parts of India, is the finest and whitest ; the red being 

 stronger tasted and rank, is exported to Batavia, China, and Eng- 

 land, for the purposes of tanning and dyeing. It is frequently 

 adulterated with sago powder, but it may be detected by solution 

 in water. 



Large quantities of gambier are imported, under the corrupted 

 name of cutch, into Calcutta, from Pegu. The quantity of gambier 

 produced in Hhio, by the Chinese settlers, amounts to about 4,600 

 tons a year, about 2,000 of which are exported for the consump- 

 tion of Java, the rest being sent to Cochin- China and other neigh- 

 bouring countries. 



Two methods of obtaining gambier are described. One consists 

 in boiling the leaves in water, and in inspissating the decoction ; 

 the other, which yields the best gambier, consists in infusing the 

 leaves in warm water, by which a fecula is obtained, which is in- 

 spissated by the heat of the sun, and formed into cakes. 



