ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF COPAL IN ANGOLA. 
27 
with that of Canarium strictum, the honeycombed structure alone excepted. The latter 
resin is common in Travancore, in Southern India: and Mr. J. Brown, of Trevandrum, 
says that it exudes from cuts in the trunk of the tree, and seems to be a great favourite 
with several species of insect, especially of one resembling a bee, called by the hillmen 
KulUada, which live in pairs in holes in the ground. It is singular that the same 
tree is common in Malacca, where it yields a black resin, and there also is found a 
honeycombed resin, which the natives call “ Dammar Klotee,” and which is said to re¬ 
semble the Picai-ngyet, although the cells are larger, and the resin blacker and harder. 
This substance I do not remember to have seen. Dr. Mason, of Kangoon, states that 
he forwarded some specimens of the insect which produces the Burmese Pioai-ngyet 
to Mr. F. Smith, and that he identified them wfith Trigona laviceps, which had been 
first received from Singapore. The conclusion, therefore, at which I have arrived, is to 
the effect that the “ honeycombed resin ” of Pegu and Burmah is the natural resin 
which exudes from the bark of the Black Dammar tree {Canarium strictum), channelled 
and perforated by the insect known in Southern India as KulUuda, and which is also 
found at Singapore, as well as in Pegu and Burmah, and recognised by entomologists 
as Trigona Iceviceps, but whether the resin is perforated in a soft state, soon after it 
issues from the tree, or, if after it becomes hard, how the feat is accomplished, is more 
than I am at present able to affirm. Perhaps some correspondent who resides near one 
of the localities indicated will institute inquiries, and render our information more com¬ 
plete respecting the economy of the Dammar Bee.— Science Gossip. 
OBSEEVATIONS ON THE OEIGIN AND GEOGEAPHICAL DISTEIBDTION 
OF GUM COPAL IN ANGOLA. 
BY DR. WELWITSCH. 
This was a rdsume of the author’s notes and observations on the subject of copal, 
made during his travels in tropical V/est Africa, and if, he observed, “ they do not lead 
to a conclusive result, especially in the indication of the species of trees which at present 
furnish, or may have formerly furnished, this resin, I hope at least to show that nearly 
all opinions published on this subject by foregoing authors are more or less erroneous.” 
The gum copal, wFich is called by the Bunda negroes Ocote, Cocoto, or Mucocoto, is 
mostly found in sandy soil, in the hilly or mountainous districts all along the coast of 
Angola. The limits within which, in Western Tropical Africa especially, gum copal is 
at present or will hereafter be found, was stated to be coincident with the distribution 
of Adansonia digitata. In the province of Angola, the lands belonging to the govern¬ 
ment of Benguelia, extending south of the Cuanza river, yield the most. The quantity 
exported from Benguelia during the period from 1850 to 1860 amounted to 50,000 
arrobas, or 1,600,000 lb. per annum. This resin is dug out of the loose strata of sand, 
marl, or clay, or else is found in isolated pieces washed to the surface by heavy rains, or 
exposed by earth-falls, such isolated pieces inducing the negroes to dig for larger quan¬ 
tities in adjacent spots. The search is sometimes carried to a depth of eight or ten feet; 
and is in certain cases combined v/iththe gathering of the Urzella, that is, the different 
varieties of RocceUa fuciformis; and also with the collection of several other gums, in¬ 
cluding gum arabic, which is found on the Acacias of these countries. The copal, being 
of unequal value, has to be sorted when brought to market; it is mostly classed accord¬ 
ing to colour, the deeper-coloured being generally worth double as much as the lighter 
sort, and the price is determined by weight. The lumps of copal vary in size, but are 
rarely found larger than a hen’s egg, though occasionally they v/eigh 3 or 4 lb. The 
pieces are all covered wfith a whitish earthy crust, which sometimes exhibits veins or 
network. The occurrence of this crust was regarded by the author as proving that after 
falling from the mother tree they w'cre forcibly transported by floods or earthfalls, and 
embedded in the soil in which they are now found. The total annual export of gum 
copal from all the districts of Angola w^as estimated at 2,000,000 lb. As to the origin 
of this West African copal, the author concluded that it w'as the exudation of some tree, 
though now found in a fossilized state, many of the pieces showing distinctly the remains 
of bark to which they had adhered. Whether all the varieties come from the same tree 
he regarded as a question remaining to be solved, but his observation had tended to 
