March  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
59 1 
wild  state.  The  branches  are  slender,  smooth) 
quadrangular  and  rather  stiff,  with  a thin,  reddish 
bark. 
The  leaves  are  opposite  and  arranged  in  one  plane, 
in  shape  ovate,  acute  sometimes  acuminate  about 
four  inches  in  length  and  two  in  diameter  with 
short  stout  petioles  a quarter  of  an  inch  long.  They 
are  dark  green,  and  shining  above,  paler  beneath, 
with  the  midrib  and  five  lateral  veins  on  each  side 
prominent.  The  old  leaves  are  stiff  and  firm  in 
texture  and  possess  a strong  astringent  taste.  The 
stipules  are  light  green,  ovate  lanceolate,  blunt, 
three  eighths  of  an  inch  in  length. 
I he  flowers  are  very  numerous,  in  compact  balls 
about  an  inch  and-a-half  through,  on  straight,  stiff 
peduncles  about  one  and-a-half  inches  long.  These 
peduncles,  which  arise  from  a point  a little  above 
the  pairs  of  leaves,  are  often  converted  into  hooks. 
The  flowers  are  about  half-an-inch  in  length,  sweet- 
scented  in  the  evening. 
The  calyx  is  shortly  tubular  with  five  small  lanceate 
obtuse  sepals  not  oppressed  to  the  corolla  tube  but 
rather  spreading,  pale -green  with  darker  points.  The 
corolla  is  tubular  half-an-inch  long,  slender,  gradually 
increasing  in  size  upwards,  green  or  pale  red,  ending 
In  a limb  of  five  small  lo»ate,  blunt,  spreading  lobes, 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  long. 
The  steamens  are  five  in  number,  alternating  with 
the  corolla  lobes,  the  anthers  sessile  at  the  mouth 
of  the  tube  linear.  The  style  is  long  and  slender, 
projecting  a quarter  of  an  inch  beyond  the  corolla 
mouth,  ending  in  an  entire  club-shaped  stigma. 
After  flowering  the  pedicels  of  the  flowers,  pre- 
viously very  short,  lengthen,  and  in  the  fruit  are 
half-an-inch  long.  The  fruit  is  a narrow  fusiform 
capsule  three-quarters  of  an  inch  long  crowned  with 
the  calyx  lobes.  It  splits  on  one  or  both  sides 
longitudinally  in  the  middle  for  the  greater  part  of 
its  length,  and  lets  fall  the  exceedingly  minute  seeds, 
whieh  are  very  copious.  The  seeds  are  thin  and 
flat  with  an  oblong  papery  wing  at  each  end. 
The  flowers,  which  last  but  a short  time,  are 
visited  by  the  small  bees  known  as  helulut  ( Trigonia 
sp.)  in  the  search  for  pollen.  As  they  creep  over  the 
flowers  while  gathering  it,  they  do  not  fail  to  rub 
the  abdomen  sprinkled  with  pollen  over  the  far  pro- 
jecting stigmas  and  so  fertilize  the  flowers.  For 
the  greater  number  of  flowers  are  fertilized  and  set 
fruits.  The  seeds,  which  are  very  light,  are  drifted 
to  suitable  spots  by  the  wind. 
There  are  about  twenty  species  of  Uncaria  to  be 
met  with  in  the  Malay  Peninsula,  but  U.  gambir  is 
the  only  one  which  has  been  used  to  obtain  the  drug. 
It  is  possible  that  some  of  the  allied  species,  however, 
might  produce  a certain  amount.  The  Uncarias  are 
usually  found  on  the  borders  of  jungle,  climbing 
over  the  trees.  Some,  like  U.  sclerophylla  and  XI. 
pedicellata,  attain  an  enormous  size,  forming  huge 
lianes,  and  are  met  with  in  the  high  jungle.  One 
or  two  of  these  are  water  vines  producing  when  cut 
a good  supply  of  excellent  water.  U.  gambir  and 
the  allied  species  are  much  more  slender  plants. 
I have  rarely  seen  the  plant  in  such  a position  that 
I could  say  that  it  was  really  wild.  It  remains  on 
old  cultivated  ground  long  after  that  has  reverted 
to  jungle,  and  in  these  cases  often  looks  different 
from  the  plant  as  seen  in  cultivation,  being  more 
slender,  and  narrower  in  the  leaf.  There  can  be 
little  doubt,  I think,  that  the  plant  is  a native  of 
the  Malay  Peminsula,  and  will  probably  be  found 
in  a really  wild  state  sooner  or  later. 
There  seems  to  be  some  idea  current  that  a plant 
described  by  _ Hunter  under  the  name  of  Nauclea 
acicla  ( Uncaria  acida,  Roxb.)  is  also  cultivated  for 
the  production  of  gambir.  What  Hunter  intended 
by  this  plant,  it  is  impossible  now  to  guess.  His 
description  is  too  meagre,  and  none  of  his  specimens 
are  extant.  He  found  it  in  Penang,  but  he  does 
not  say  in  his  paper  that  it  produced  gambir  at  all, 
or  was  used  for  that  purpose. 
History  of  the  Plant  and  Drug. 
I have  been  unable  to  find  any  earlier  reference  to 
gambir  than  that  of  Rumphius  (Herbarium  Amboinense, 
v.  63,  t-  34)  in  1750.*  There  is  no  mention  of  it  in 
Garcia’s  Iiistoria  Aromatum,  nor  in  Pomet’s  Historic 
des  Drogues  (1694),  nor  eveu  in  Steven’s  Compleat 
Guide  to  the  East  Indies  (1766),  although  in  that  book 
the  prices  of  goods  at  Malacca  are  given.  Rumphius 
describes  three  species  of  Uncaria,  under  the  name 
of  Daun  Gatta  Gambir,  but  his  figures  and  descrip- 
tions are  so  bad  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  what 
the  species  were  he  had  in  view.  Probably,  however, 
the  plant  he  called  Funis  uncatus  latifolius  was  Un- 
caria gambir.  This  plant,  he  says,  was  very  com- 
mon in  open  country  in  Amboina,  Celebes,  Bali,  and 
Sumatra  near  Palembang.  It  was  called  Daun  Gatta 
(and  Gitta)  Gambir,  because  its  leaves  had  a taste  of 
the  lozenges  called  Gatta  Gambir,  although  these 
were  obtained  from  a different  plant.  The  Ma'ays 
chewed  the  leaves  with  the  betel  (but  did  not  at  that 
time  make  the  extract],  and  also  cultivated  it  for 
the  scent  of  its  flowers.  The  Amboinese,  however, 
used  the  juice  for  healing  ulcers.  The  plant  was 
thus  first  cultivated  for  its  flowers  and  for  the  leaves 
as  a masticatory. 
The  original  Gatta  Gambir  referred  to  in  Rumphius 
as  being  used  in  the  form  of  lozenges  was  probably 
the  product  of  Acacia  catechu,  which  was  imported 
intq^Malacca  from  Cambay  as  early  as  1514  (Bar- 
bosa in  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  1866,  p.  191)  for  use  as 
a masticatory. 
The  Tamil  name  of  this  Catechu  is  Kate,  which  is 
spelt  in  Garcia's  Iiistoria  Aromatum  (Lib.  I,  43.) 
Cate,  and  tne  variant  Cato  is  said  to  have  been  the 
name  of  the  drug  in  Malacca.  Couperus  (1780)  gives 
Catjoe  as  the  Dutch  name  in  Malacca  in  his  time, 
and  of  course  Cachou  and  other  similar  names  are 
mere  variants  of  this. 
Before  1750  the  Malays  discovered  the  use  of  gam- 
bir in  place  of  cutch,  which  was  too  expensive  for 
the  poorer  classes  (Couperus,  l.c.).  It  was  probably 
at  first  called  Katta  Krambu,  i.e.,  scented  cutch, 
and  the  Tamils  to  this  day  in  Singapore  call  it  Iiatta 
Krambu,  or  Kambu.  Much  of  the  chewing  gambir 
came  at  that  time  and  still  comes  from  Siak  in 
Sumatra  where  it  is  made  up  with  cloves,  hence  the 
product  was  called  scented  cutch  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  Acacia  catechu,  common  cutch.  This  name 
Katta  Krambu  was  altered  by  the  Malays  into  Gatta 
Gambir,  and  later  into  Getah  Gambir,  often  incorrectly 
spelt  Gambier  by  Europeans.  The  word  Getah  is 
not  applied  by  the  Malays  to  an  extract  made  by 
boiling,  but  signifies  a viscid  milky  liquid  like  that 
of  Dichopsis  gutta  (Getah  Percha).f 
The  earliest  account  of  the  cultivation  of  gambir 
in  the  Malay  Peninsula  was  published  by  Abrahamus 
Couperus  in  the  Verhandelingen  van  het  Bataavisch 
Genootschap  (1823,  II,  pp.  209-226).  The  paper  is 
dated  1780,  He  says  that  the  seed  was  first  brought 
from  Pontjan  (Puntian  in  Johor)  in  1758,  and  failed 
to  germinate  at  Malacca.  Young  plants  were  then 
obtained,  and  proved  so  successful  that  many  plan- 
tations were  soon  established.  Chewing  gambir  only 
was  produced,  but  in  such  large  quantities  that  in 
1780  gambir  that  produced  from  26  to  28  ryksdalers 
a pikul  fell  to  6 dalers,  and  plantations  which  formerly 
fetched  800  ryksdalers  sold  for  60.  I am  indebted 
to  Mr.  J.  Fleury,  the  Netherlands  Vice-Consul,  for 
a translation  from  the  Dutch  of  Couperus’  very  in- 
teresting paper. 
The  next  account  is  that  of  William  Hunter 
(Trans.,  Linn.  Soc.,  IX,  p.  218,  read  in  1807).  He 
* Colonel  Yule  in  “ Hobson  Jobson,”  however, 
quotes  Derby  for  an  earlier  reference-  This  book 
I have  not  seen. 
f Rumphius  gives,  however,  another  derivation, 
viz.,  from  a word  Gambir,  which  signifies  a Jasminum, 
and  says  that  the  plant  was  so  called  on  account 
of  its  being  scented  like  jasmine,  but  this  word  is 
not  used  for  the  wild  jasmine  in  the  Peninsula,  as 
far  as  I know,  though  Favre  gives  Bunga  Gambir 
as  the  name  of  “Jasminum  grandiflorum.”  I am 
more  inclined  to  think  the  Jasmine  in  the  case 
takes  its  name  from  the  Gambir  and  not  vice  versa. 
Some  of  the  wild  Gambirs  are  called  A kar  Kayet 
Kayet,  which  is  perhaps  the  same  word  as  Cate. 
