226 TlMEHRI. 
across a specimen of it myself. It was described to me 
by two or three different collectors as a long bush rope 
— that is a climber — that ascends to the tops of the trees, 
with a stem that reaches a diameter of six or eight 
inches. It yields a plentiful supply of milk, which is 
invariably taken by the collectors when they come across 
the plants and mixed with the balata milk. The gum is 
said to be very good. Like the African Landolphias, it 
probably belongs to the order Apocyncoc. 
Now it only remains for me to speak of what is desir- 
able for the better conservation of the forest, and the 
following remarks are the substance of suggestions laid 
before Government in a previous report for the new 
forest law which has been in contemplation for some 
time. Whenever this law is made it must be a compre- 
hensive measure, dealing with all aspects of the forest 
question and all the known products. I will speak first 
of balata, but the rules I recommend bear more or less 
on the whole forest trade. 
It being manifestly undesirable that a tree producing 
timber so valuable as bullet-wood should be sacrificed 
for the juice of the bark, rules should be framed and 
strictly enforced to regulate the collecting of this sub- 
stance. I have before intimated that, compared to the 
wood of the tree, balata can only be regarded as a sub- 
sidiary product. This must be recognised in the rules 
framed to deal with the collecting of it. I admit that 
existing circumstances seem to contradict this view, and 
to make the reverse the case. Since the revival of the 
trade in 1879, the balata exported, estimated at the low 
price of 30 cents per lb., was worth $120,000, while the 
bullet-wood used in the same time was inconsiderable. 
