.530 RANGE OF IllK GOTTA TABAN GOLLECTOBS. 
The Tamungong's collectors oven went as far as Lin gi, and had pro¬ 
cured a considerable quantity when the Sultan’s eyes were opened to 
the value of his jungles. He confiscated a part of what hail been col¬ 
lected, anil, following the Tamungong’s example, declared gatta tlb&n 
a royalty. At the period of our visit to the interior of Johore the 
Tamungong had made arrangements with the Bindahara to secure 
tile taban of Pahang, 
The know ledge of the article has now slowly spread from Sin¬ 
gapore in different directions, but we believe has not yet extend¬ 
ed to the geographical limits of the tree. The Singapore collectors 
have almost everywhere been the first to carry this knowledge to 
the natives of the different countries. To the north the gatta col¬ 
lectors have, reached as far as Per&k on the Peninsular side of the 
straits of Malacea’(embracing Johore, Malacca, Salangor and Perak), 
and Siak on the Sumatran side as far as Pan4 and Bfla. To the 
south the whole of the Johore Archipelago and the adjoining coun¬ 
tries on the east coast of Sumatra as far as Piero bang (including the 
forests on the Kampar, lndragiri, Tunkul, Rite, Jambi and Piem- 
bang rivers) now furnish taban. On the east coast of the Peninsula the 
knowledge of it has not yet advanced beyond Pdhang. To the east¬ 
ward it has reached some of the rivers of Borneo, such as Brun£ and 
S&r&wak on the north, Pontianak on the west, and Koti and Passir on 
the east, coast. It thus appears probable that the range of the ta- 
b£in embraces the whole of Borneo. It is remarkable that although 
a botanist, Mr. Lobb, saw numerous taban trees in the jungles of 
Pinang, and Dr. Oxley in June last informed our mercantile readers 
there that it was found abundantly on the mainland opposite them,* 
they do not appear to have been able up to this moment to get a sup¬ 
ply on the spot, and they seem destined to wait till the knowledge of 
the tree slowly reaches the Malays of Kedah from Singapore. As it 
is now being disemminated in the adjacent state of Perak it will pro¬ 
bably soon advance to the latitude of Pinang.* Although the Dutch 
Ante, vol, i. p. 24. 
T Since writing the above we have heard that 12 piculs of taban have 
been lately brought to Pinang from the southern part of Province Welles¬ 
ley, adjoining Perak. 
