72 
RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 
of a red, gravelly character, showing traces of iron, but the moisture 
and the sunlight make up for what it may lack. 
Next after the Hevea I wanted most to examine the tree that 
produces the Gutta-jelutong, or Pontianak gum. I found that it was 
very common all through the Federated Malay States, and that the 
gum was rarely taken from it, the tree being regarded as useful only 
for the cheap clogs that the natives wear. The tree is botanically the 
Dyera costulata and when mature is a splendid forest creation. One in 
the gardens, of which I have a photograph, was certainly one hundred 
and fifty feet high, with a huge three part trunk, and a magnificent crow n 
of leaves. We did not tap this one, but went into the jungle, found a 
wild one, and tapped it after the most approved method. The latex 
oozed out like clotted cream and seemed most abundant, but began to 
coagulate almost at once. It is said that a mature tree produces as 
much as one hundred pounds, bv scraping the bark rather than tapping, 
and mixing at once with kerosene. 
In the bit of jungle where we found the Pontianak tree, there was 
killed only a few days before a thirty-foot python, that had not been 
thought a particularly undesirable neighbor until he swallowed a couple 
of Mr. Ridley's swans, which ended his career. 
The Casfilloa in the gardens did not seem to be in a very flourish- 
ing condition, nor did the Ceara rubber trees, although both have been 
carefully experimented with. The former seemed to be stunted, while 
the latter was apt to develop hollow stems. A further trouble with 
the Casfilloa came about through its habit of shedding its temporary 
branches, which gives a nice, sheltered, tender spot for the beetles, of 
which they often avail themselves. There was also a most luxuriant 
growth of the Willughbeia firma, but it was such a tangle that it would 
be almost impossible to get any rubber out of it economically. Indeed, 
I have yet to find anyone that has experimented with the culture of 
a vine that is a rubber producer wdio has any faith at all in it. The 
Willughbeia , however, when wild, produces a good grade of rubber 
that is known as “Borneo," and is very easily coagulated after tapping. 
There were also a great variety of Gutta-percha trees, together with 
the Fiats and the Kickxia, to which we devoted considerable attention. 
Director Ridley is a most charming companion, and as he often 
takes long journeys into the forests accompanied only by the wild men, 
his stories of adventure are very interesting. His guides, by the wav, 
never can understand his interest in insects or plants, except upon the 
hypothesis that he is after ingredients to make “gold water,” a magic 
