ROTANG. 99 
This cane has at the top a tuft of leaves which are several 
fret in length, and alternately winged, and' of which the leaflets 
are sword-shaped, and armed with sharp spines. 
In consequence of its great length and slender form, 
the rotang tree (which is usually found in woods near 
rivers, and in morassy places) does not grow entirely 
upright ; but, after having attained the height of five 
or six yards, it depends, for support, upon other trees,, 
which it sometimes overruns, in nearly an horizontal 
direction to the extent of sixty or eighty feet. The 
flowers are produced in upright spikes that separate 
into long spreading branches, and are succeeded by a 
red and somewhat egg-shaped fruit, which to the taste 
is pleasantly acid. 
The drug called Dragons Blood * is obtained from 
this fruit, in Japan, and several other countries of the 
East. The Japanese expose the fruit of the Rotang tree 
to the steam of boiling water, by which the external 
shell is softened, and a resinous fluid is forced out, that 
is afterwards enclosed in leaves and suspended in the 
air to dry. In Sumatra the external surface of the 
fruit is observed to be covered with the resin : this is 
rubbed off, melted in the sun, and formed into grains or 
globules, which are folded in leaves, and are considered 
the purest kind of dragon's blood. In some countries 
the fruit is boiled in water, and the resin, which floats 
upon the surface, is skimmed off and subsequently 
purified, and formed into the requisite shape for sale. 
An inferior kind of dragon's blood is made up into large 
masses, which contain the membranous parts of the 
fruit and other impurities. When this substance is 
tolerably pure, it breaks smooth, and appears internally 
of a dark red colour; melts readily, and easily catches 
fire. Its principal use is in medicine. 
The stem of the rotang furnishes the inhabitants of 
the countries where it grows with shafts for pikes or 
* Several other trees besides this produce the red kind of 
resin called Dragon's Blood. 
F 2 
