-62 THE ElNU.V OF JOHOIIF. 
• 4 
remarkable uniformity in size of the full grown tabans. They had all 
perfectly straight trunks, from f>0 to 80 feet in height, and from two 
to three feet in diameter, the great majority being about two and a 
half feet. The branches are few and small compared with the durian, 
and have not that tendency to be crooked which adds so much to the 
beauty of a full grown durian. 
The Binua after felling the tree ntake an incision quite round it 
from winch the milk flows. This is repeated at distances of 6 to 
18 inches along the whole trunk. The incision has only the breadth 
of the parang with which it is made, no bark being removed save the 
rough superficial coating for an inch or two on each side. Many of 
the trees which had been felled by Malays instead of a single incision 
had rings of bark of about an inch in breadth cut out. A Malay 
woodinan who had been employed in different places in procuring the 
gitta mentioned that this system is always adopted by the Malays. I 
notice this in corroboration of what Dr. Oxley has stated on this head 
in his excellent paper on the taban * because in an article on the sub¬ 
stance which appeared about the same time in Chambers’ Edinburgh 
Journal, it is said the hark is stripped off the tree. It is to be feared 
that the method of obtaining the gitta suggested by Dr. Oxley cannot 
be put in practice. I asked both Malays and Binuas in different 
parts of the country whether they could not procure it without des¬ 
troying the tree in the same way as they collect nffnia daminer. BiJ 
the answer always was that the tdban would not run like dammer and 
many other gfttas sucli as the caoutchouc. This is probably the 
fact, because 1 noticed that on making incisions on growing trees, 
the milky juice did not flow freely, and rapidly concreted. Its ap¬ 
pearance in this state before being boiled is very different from that of 
the article as imported into Singapore. It has a dry ragged look re¬ 
sembling shreds of bark, and, instead of being dense and tough, is lights 
and possesses so little cohesion that it is easily tom in pieces. I fre¬ 
quently saw r it in this state when newly brought in from the jungle. 
Various statements were made as to the produce per tree. Consider¬ 
ing that the trees are so nearly of one size, it is surprising that the 
quantity of taban yielded by them differs so much. The extremes 
mentioned were two catties and fifty catties, but it is doubtful whe¬ 
ther any thing near the latter quantity is ever obtained. Many BB 
nuas who had been engaged for some months in the collection as¬ 
sured me that they had occasionally obtained as much as 18 catties 
but never more and that the quantity is commonly nearer 3 to 5 eat- 
S: Antep. ‘46, 
