336 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. [Malay Peninsula. 



so strong, and tbe taste is more astringent. It is dried in the sun, and 

 must be kept in an airy place. It is much more esteemed than the Missoy 

 bark, though its flavour and smell sooner decay. A very excellent and 

 penetrating oil is extracted from this bark, almost as fine as oil of cloves, 

 and possessing the same qualities. The appearance of this bark differs 

 with the country which produces it. In the Moluccas, it is browner 

 than at Amboyna ; the latter is also much thinner, harder, and of a more 

 pleasant taste. 



Copper (Tamba^ Hind. Tamra, San.) is produced in Persia, Sumatra, 

 ami Japan. From the former place it used to be imported into Europe, 

 and is at present an article of trade from the Gulph of Persia to the 

 British settlements. 



The copper from Sumatra is produced on and in the hills near 

 Labuonajee. The ore produces half its weight in pure metal. It is formed 

 into small pointed cakes ; and from its state when purchased, requires 

 much preparation and expence to render it fit for use, or perfectly mal- 

 leable and ductile. 



Japan copper is in small bars, about six inches long, flat on one side, 

 and convex on the other, weighing four or five ounces each, and packed in 

 cases, each containing a pecul. Tins copper contains more gold, and is 

 finer than any other that is met with in any part of the world. British 

 India is now supplied with a large quantity of copper from Chili. 



Cossfmba, a red dye much used among the Malays. Some kinds are 

 manufactured amongst themselves, but the sort most esteemed is procured 

 from Chinchew, in small round or oblong balls, about the size of a pea, 

 without smell or taste, and which, when good, will throw out a beautiful 

 red to the second or third water. That which is dull coloured, should 

 be rejected. 



Dammer is a kind of turpentine, or resin, which flows spontaneously 

 from a species of pine, named by Br. Roxburgh, Shorea rofntafa, growing 

 on Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. It is exported in large quantities to 

 Bengal and other parts of India ; and is so plentiful, that the natives gather 

 it in lumps from the ground where it has fallen. It is hard, dark coloured, 

 and brittle, and should be chosen as clear from impurities as possible There 

 is another kind which is sott and whitish, having the consistence and ap- 

 |iearance of putty. Dammer is much esteemed in India for covering the 

 bottoms of vessels, for which use, to give it firmness and duration, it ought 

 to he mixed with some of the hard kind. 



Ejoo, or gumatty, is a vegetable substance, so much resembling horse- 

 hair, as scarcely to be distinguished from it. It envelopes the stem of a 



