266 
safe estimate of one-tenth as the amount secured, the fearful waste 
is very evident. 
Many years ago it was found that the bark left on the Gutta- 
percha tree which has been felled by the natives and left to rot in 
the jungle still contained 5 per cent, of pure Gutta-percha, while 
the dead leaves 7 to 10 per cent. Consequently many experiments 
have been made in European countries, as well as in Singapore and 
Java, to get a working process for extracting Gutta-percha from 
bark and leaves. The processes thus resulting are both patented 
and secret, and Dr. Sherman was not permitted to examine them, 
but he inclines to the belief that all the Initta-percha factories now- 
running in the East have greatly improved their methods and 
machines since the beginning. The consensus of opinion seems to 
be that, by the time the Gutta-percha plantations are ready to fur- 
nish leaves enough, the factories will be able to produce the best 
grade of Gutta-percha. 
To sum up. Dr. Sherman believes, after visiting the Gutta-percha 
regions already exploited, that the Phillippines contain Gutta-percha 
species of value. If the best species is not to be found native, the 
conditions are favourable for its introduction. A supply from planta- 
tions may be along time coming, but the Philippines will be equally 
situated with other countries, when the native supplies have become 
exhausted and plantations of Gutta-percha are the only dependence. 
And by the time plantations are matured, the work of chemists will 
have provided means for obtaining a steady annual yield of Gutta 
without injury to the tree. 
Gutta Percha Exports from Sarawak. 
There is a growing output of Gutta-percha from the British pro- 
tectorate of Sarawak, of which Kuching is the capital, on the 
western coast of Borneo, and which has an area equal to that of 
Illinois, in the United States. According to Dr. Obach, the exports 
of Gutta-percha for the five years ended 1896 w ? ere 1,593,984 pounds, 
an annual average of 318, 797 pounds of the average export value f 
of 354 cents. The last report of the British consul in Sarawak con- 
tains data from which this table lias been compiled, giving the 
weight of yearly exports in piculs, and value in English money, 
with equivalent weights in pounds and value in American money: 
Years 
Piculs 
£ 
Pounds 
Cents 
1897 - - 
- - 2,867 ~ 
* 8*553 
- 382,266! - 
7 2 3 # 
I 898 - - 
- - 3,745 " 
2 7*573 
" 499 * 350 " " 
- 26 i 
1899 - - 
- - 8,980 - 
56,562 
" M 97 * 333 ^ - 
— On 
I90O - - 
- - 7>964 - 
78,829 
-* i ; o6i,866f- - 
- 36 i 
Gutta-percha is gathered by the native Dyaks, who can be hired 
for 7 pence per day. The trading is chiefly in the hands of Chinese. 
•Some of the best Gutta-percha known to commerce comes from 
Sarawak, ; but there is also included much “ Sarawak mixed/' which 
Obach describes as “a very useful second class material.” The 
average export value, therefore, is less than for Gutta-percha from 
