158 



On East Indian Isinglass. 



Dr. Royle's pamphlet comprises all the information he has 

 been able to collect in his office at the India House, as well as 

 the opinions of brokers, dealers, and consumers, as to the de- 

 fects of the Bengal compared with the Russian Isinglass. 

 It also contains, what was very much desired, a detailed 

 chemical analysis of the Bengal article, all which will be of 

 service to those who are engaged in preparing Isinglass in 

 this country. 



Much information has, however, been collected in India, 

 that has not been officially reported to the Government, nor 

 published ; and some also has been published in the two 

 last numbers of the Calcutta Journal of Natural History,* 

 which Doctor Royle could not have been aware of when he 

 wrote ; so far therefore his pamphlet is deficient, and it 

 is to supply this deficiency that we now enter upon the 

 subject. 



Having found, in December 1839, that notwithstanding 

 the publication in Calcutta of several statements in which 

 the advantages of making Isinglass from fishes in the Hoog- 

 ly were pointed out, still we found that no one had taken 

 up the article with a view to the European market, and the 

 little that was collected by the fishermen, was purchased, as 

 usual, by the Chinese in a rough state, with as little com- 

 petition as if nothing whatever had been published on the 

 subject. 



Such being the case, we felt that it would be altogether 

 waste of time to write more about it, and instead of doing 

 so, we desired our servants to collect the article from the 

 fishermen, the same as the Chinese were doing, and at the 

 same rate, or a slight advance if necessary. In the course 

 of about a month, by going from village to village along 

 the banks of the Hoogly and Salt-water lake, our khit- 

 mutgar collected altogether about 45 maunds. 



A maund consists of about 200 impure dry fish bladders, 



* Nos. 7 and 8 for 1841, pp. 450, 615. 



