ON THE GAMBOGE TREE OF CEYLON. 
23 
poor-looking. The tree does not grow abundantly nor luxu- 
riantly in the immediate neighborhood of Colombo. Last 
January we took a little excursion, and got quite into a forest 
of Stalagmilis cambogioides , and perceiving all the trees had 
their bark cut off in various places, I concluded the people in 
the neighborhood must be in the habit of collecting the gum, 
and determined to get all the information I could on the sub- 
ject, for your edification. From a very intelligent native 
practitioner in medicine, I gained the following : — He told us 
that Gamboge from the Stalagmilis, called by the natives 
Gokatu, or Kana Goraka, is generally used by them, both 
as a pigment and medicinally. For the former purpose it is 
ground very fine with lime-juice,* and mixed with a pretty 
strong solution of the gum of Wood ^pple ( Feronia Ele- 
phantum,) called in Singhalese, Diwul. With the addition 
of a little Chunam, or Lime, they make a deep orange-color, 
both tints being much used in the decoration of their temples 
and Boodh himself is always represented in yellow garments. 
Yellow is indeed the sacred color, the priests being invariably 
arrayed in yellow robes. 
" As a medicine, the Gamboge is ground to a fine powder, 
and being mixed with the juice expressed from the leaves of 
the Tamarind Tree, is taken with a little water. This is the 
most common mode of administering it as an aperient ; but 
when mixed with other ingredients it is considered by native 
practitioners to be beneficial in many diseases. It is collected 
by cutting pieces of the bark completely off, about the size of 
the palm of the hand, early in the morning. The Gamboge 
oozes out from the pores of the bark in a semi-liquid state, but 
soon thickens, and is scraped off by the collectors next morn- 
ing without injury to the tree, the wounds in the bark readily 
healing and becoming fit to undergo the operation again. The 
learned doctor who gave us this information, presented us 
* In a recent letter to Dr. Christison, Mrs. Walker says that she finds 
this to be a mistake. As a yellow pigment, the juice is used without any 
preparation ; the addition of lime juice injuring the color — an observation 
which Dr. C, has confirmed by experiment. 
