544 
FOURTH BULLETIN OF 
[1846 
The American consul, Mr. Ballister, who is extensively engaged in manufactur¬ 
ing sugar here, has made an experiment with guano, as a manure for cane, and 
found it to succeed remarkably well. That which he used was obtained near the 
island of Pulo Penang, and is said to be much inferior to that obtained in the Pa¬ 
cific. 
The cultivation of cotton has been tried here, but does not succeed, the pods not 
coining to maturity; being previously affected with a fungous decay, which is 
probably owing to the hygrometrical state of the atmosphere, nearly one hundred 
inches of rain falling annually, and the variation of the thermometer being but 
a few degrees during the year. I may remark, also, that I examined some cotton 
growing in the vicinity of Zanzibar that was affected with disease in the same 
manner. Indeed, from what I have observed, and from what I could learn from 
others, I think it extremely improbable that the culture of cotton, in any of the 
European colonies of the east, will ever sensibly affect that of the United States. 
The Uncaria gambier or Nauclea gambier is one of the productions of this 
island, and is very extensively cultivated in many of the East India islands, par¬ 
ticularly Bintang, where there are more than sixty thousand plantations. Gam¬ 
bier is the Malay name for the extract prepared from this plant. 
This plant belongs to the natural order Cinchonaceae. It is a scandant shrub, 
rising to the height of ten to fifteen feet, with round branches, leaves ovate, lan¬ 
ceolate, acute with short petioles smooth on both sides, stipules ovate, peduncles 
axillary, solitary, opposite, bracteolated about the middle, the lowest one sterile 
converted into hooked spines. Florets pink and green. Capsules stalked, clavate, 
two-celled, two-valved. 
Two methods are employed in obtaining gambier. One consists in boiling the 
leaves in the water, and inspissating the decoction; the other, which yields the 
best gambier, consists in infusing the leaves in warm water, by which a fecula is 
obtained, which is inspissated by the heat of the sun, and formed into cakes. The 
method as practised at Singapore consists in plucking the leaves from the prun- 
ings, which are boiled in a qualie or cauldron, made of bark, with an iron bottom. 
After being boiled twice and rinsed, they are used as manure for the pepper 
vine. The decoction is evaporated to a very thick extract, of a light yellowish 
brown color like clay, which is placed in oblong moulds. The pieces thus ob¬ 
tained are formed into squares, and dried in the sun, or on a raised platform. The 
best is made at Bintang, the next best is that of Lingin. 
There are also some plantations of pepper on the island, and also of the betel 
leaf, which is the piper betel ; and a considerable revenue is derived from a small 
tax on the latter production. 
It is as a commercial mart and key to the navigation of the seas in which it is 
situated, that this settlement is of incalculable importance to the British empire, 
and that it has sprung up in a few years from a desert isle to a rich and flourish¬ 
ing settlement, importing and exporting more than £3,000,000 worth of goods 
annually. The opening of the Chinese markets does not appear to have affected 
it sensibly. 
Situated as it is in the centre of myriads of active and industrious nations, in¬ 
habiting rich and fertile lands, abounding in every species of tropical produce of 
which Europe or America or China has need, it will no doubt continue to in¬ 
crease as a depot for the manufactures of Europe and the United States, to an 
almost illimitable extent; and being unmolested in its progress by harbor duties, 
dues, or charges of any description, it only requires a liberal policy of England to 
make this, in the course of time, one of the most important commercial depots in the 
world. 
March , 1845.—The river of Sambas, in the island of Borneo, reaches the coast 
in latitude 1° 13' N., longitude 109° 03' E. The width of the mouth is about 
half a mile, having two small mountains, situated, one on each side. 
That on the south is perhaps four hundred feet high and has the greater eleva¬ 
tion. It is cultivated to near the summit by the Chinese, who have a village im¬ 
mediately on the west side, containing perhaps two thousand inhabitants. The 
other eminence, on the north side, is very densely covered with vegetation, and has 
an elevation of three hundred feet. The rock of these mountains is chert, and 
belongs to the unstratified series, with the lines of fracture very distinct. 
Ascending the river it takes a northeast course for about half a mile, where it 
