264 
brokers advised that in their opinion the rubber would be more 
saleable if the sheets were rather thick. 
The demand for Ficus elastica is not very general. In a few 
isolated cases orders have been received for plants but in most 
seeds are preferred. Some tapping of Rambong was done in July 
and some interesting experiments were carried out in making sheets 
similar in size, thickness, etc., to those of Para. Some good sheets 
were made of a reddish-brown colour and were exhibited at the 
Penang "show. A few trees of Castilloa elastica were tapped for 
specimens for the Agricultural Show. The rubber turned out was 
of fair quality and was prepared in two forms latex coagulated as 
taken from the trees, and latex washed before coagulation. 
The rubber coagulated as taken from the tree was almost black in 
colour and rather sticky. That washed was a dirty white and 
much less sticky. The elasticity of both samples appeared to be 
about the same. The tapping was done by both herring-bone 
and spiral methods. 
Ceara ( Manihot Glaziovii). Some trees of this rubber, were 
also tapped for the show. The flow of latex was not large but the 
rubber turned out, which somewhat resembles Para, was excellent 
in quality, being pronounced by a Ceara expert as quite as good a 
sample as he had ever seen. " The trees tapped were about 15 
years old. 
On this Mr. Bikch writes; — To those interested in the future 
of the Malay race it is a matter of satisfaction that rubber 
culture has came to stay, for the art of tapping appeals to the 
Malay. He is very neat with his knife; to sit in the shade and 
earn a good wage will exactly suit his temperament. As every 
acre will give work for one man we may hope to see, ere long, 
thousand of Malays congenially employed. 
NOTE ON THE METHOD OF PREPARING 
DRAGON’S BLOOD. 
A Perak Malay having brought to the Exhibition a complete 
series of articles showing the method of preparing dragon’s blood, 
I took the opportunity of eliciting from him the method of 
preparation of this product, and obtained the complete set of the 
articles illustrating the subject. He had brought a living plant, 
and a portion of a stem and infrutescence of the rattan which 
proved to be Dcemonorops propinquus Griff, and a number of 
fruits of the same plant. With these were a quantity of cockle 
shells, and a small bottle-shaped basket of strips of pandan leaves 
hung by a string from a tripod of bamboo sticks. He explained 
that the dry fruits are put into the basket with some of the 
cockle shells and the basket then shaken, as it hangs from the 
bamboo sticks, over a cloth. The resin on the shells of the fruit 
