Balata and the Balata Industry. iSi 
efforts to create the trade* to search the forests 
here for a possible substitute, or supplement, for 
the limited supply of india-rubber of that day. The 
substance, however, on examination, did not satisfy 
Messrs. SILVER & Co., and the question dropped again, 
till 1862 when Sir William Holmes, at the London 
International Exhibition of that year, brought the 
substance into prominent notice.f The result of his 
zealous efforts was that Messrs. SILVER & Co. applied 
for a further sample, and some of the dried material was 
sent them. A better opinion of the merits of balata 
seems to have been derived from his experiment. Some 
appears also to have been submitted about the same 
time to the Gutta-percha Company of London, and a 
demand was created for it. In 1865, three years later, 
the quantity exported was 20,000 lbs. Then the trade 
commenced to fall off, and continued to decrease till 
1874, when the amount sold only realized £111. In 
1877 the demand revived, but fell again the follow- 
ing year, reviving again, however, the next year, since 
when, up to last year, when there was a falling off as 
compared with the preceding year, it was maintained 
increasingly. The following are the annual exports of 
balata, registered at the Custom House since — 
Quantity. Value. 
l8 79 47483 lbs ^2,543 5 10 
1880 66,606 ,, 2,401 o 3 
l8 8i 93>&27 „ 4,596 4 2 
1882 105,112 „ 5,849 3 ioi 
1883 78,378 „ 
* Subsequently Mr. Melville wrote an interesting report on the sub- 
ject., which he laid before the Royal Agricultural and Commercial 
Society of British Guiana. 
f In reference to this, vide page 207. 
