100 
VARNISH TREE. 
tempt to collect varnish without using this precau- 
tion, would soon be punished for his rashness ; and 
the most dreadful effects would ensue. The dis- 
order shows itself by tetters, which become of a 
bright red colour, and spread in a very short time ; 
the body afterwards swells, and the skin bursts, and 
appears covered with an universal leprosy. The 
unhappy wretch could not long endure the excru- 
ciating pains which he feels, did he not find a speedy 
remedy in those preservatives which are used against 
the malignant and noxious exhalations of the 
varnish. 
“ When the labourers go to collect this gum, 
they carry, suspended from their girdles, a kind of 
vessel made of leather : with one hand they detach 
the shells, and scrape them with a small iron instru- 
ment, which they hold in the other, in order that 
they may lose none of the varnish. It is then car- 
ried to the merchant’s house, where it is purified by 
straining it through a cloth ; and the dregs are sold 
to the druggists, who employ them for certain pur- 
poses in medicine. 
(C The season of collecting varnish being ended, 
the merchant puts it into small casks closely stopped. 
A pound of it, newly made, costs him about one 
shilling and eightpence sterling; but he gains cent, 
per cent, upon it, and sometimes more, according to 
the distance of the place to which he transports it.” 
