Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
November,  1904.  / 
Pharmacy  and  Chemistry. 
527 
and  the  villages  in  the  interior.  All  qualities  of  sugar,  for  the  most 
part  of  brownish  tint,  are  shown  in  this  Agriculture  Building. 
Indigo  receives  attention  in  the  islands  ;  while  the  plant  grows  in 
temperate  regions,  here  it  yields  three  crops  a  year  against  one  crop 
in  the  more  northern  lands.  The  leaves  and  stalks  are  gathered 
before  the  fruit  appears  and  expressed.  The  yellowish  juice  passes 
through  greenish  and  blue  shades,  when  the  indigo  separates  out 
an  insoluble  powder.  Thirty  hours  usually  suffices  for  this  change. 
The  samples  of  indigo  shown  are  of  very  fine  appearance,  made  into 
the  usual  cylindrical  forms, 
There  are  a  number  of  flour-bearing  plants  in  the  islands.  Harina 
de  maiz  is  our  familiar  corn  meal.  The  yucca  and  many  palms  yield 
flours,  though  rice  forms  the  great  staple.  The  mortars  in  which 
rice  is  beaten  into  powder  are  varied.  The  idea  underlying  many 
of  the  wooden  mortars  is  to  imitate  a  boat.  In  the  center  a  round 
hole  is  gouged  out.  In  this  wooden  mortar  the  rice  is  placed  and 
contused  with  wooden  mallets  or  wooden  pestles.  Many  very  for. 
midable  mortars  are  shown,  also  small  hand  affairs  holding  little 
more  than  a  thimbleful.  Some  wooden  mortars  of  larger  size  are 
hollowed  out  of  the  upright  trunk.  Burrstone  mills  are  also  made 
by  the  natives,  the  rice  being  fed  through  the  top  stone,  which  has 
a  small  hole  leading  to  the  grinding  surfaces. 
The  most  noted  starchy  food  next  to  rice  is  the  pith  of  the  bun 
palm.  This  grows  on  all  the  islands,  is  graceful ;  its  fruit  is  not 
edible.  Cutting  down  the  tree  the  pith  is  removed ;  placed  in  tanks, 
the  acrid  bitter  juice  drains  off ;  it  is  then  dried  and  pounded  in 
mortars,  the  starch  now  separates  as  a  fine  flour.  This  preliminary 
draining  off  of  acrid  juice  is  necessary  in  very  many  other  instances, 
e.  g.}  making  cassava. 
The  Commerce  Building  should  not  be  overlooked.  It  houses  the 
tobacco,  fermenting,  fiber,  distilling,  leather  and  paint  industries. 
The  case  of  Hang  Hang  oil  will  be  the  most  attractive,  though 
small,  for  it  furnishes  the  perfumer  with  the  Eastern  attar  of  rose. 
This  oil  is  obtained  from  the  yellow  flowers  of  Hang  Hang  tree  ;  the 
blossoms  are  exceedingly  fragrant,  some  3  inches  long.  A  tree  will 
often  yield  800  pounds  of  blossom  during  the  year,  75  pounds 
yielding  a  pound  of  the  oil,  costing  in  the  market  some  $50,  so  we 
see  the  distilling  of  this  oil  is  not  unprofitable  when  you  consider 
the  tree  thrives  wild  and  also  is  readily  planted  and  cultivated.  The 
