138 
THE  GUMS  AND  RESINS  OF  COMMERCE. 
consistence  of  cream,  but  grows  thicker  and  black  on  being  ex- 
posed to  the  air.  It  is  so  transparent  when  laid  pure  and  un- 
mixed upon  boxes  or  furniture,  that  every  vein  of  the  wood  may 
be  seen.  For  the  most  part  a  dark  ground  is  spread  underneath 
it,  which  causes  it  to  reflect  like  a  mirror,  and  for  this  purpose 
recourse  is  frequently  had  to  the  fine  sludge,  which  is  got  in  the 
trough  under  a  grindstone,  or  to  ground  charcoal ;  occasionally 
a  red  substance  is  mixed  with  the  varnish,  and  sometimes  gold 
leaf,  ground  very  fine.  This  varnish  hardens  very  much,  but 
will  not  endure  any  blows,  cracking  and  flying  almost  like  glass, 
though  it  can  stand  boiling  water  without  any  damage.  With 
these  the  Japanese  varnish  the  posts  of  their  doors,  and  most 
articles  of  furniture  which  are  made  of  wood.  It  far  exceeds 
the  Chinese  and  Siamese  varnish,  and  the  best  is  collected  about 
the  town  of  Jesino.  It  is  cleared  from  impurities  by  wringing  it 
through  very  fine  paper  ;  then  about  a  hundredth  part  of  an  oil 
called  tot,  which  is  expressed  from  the  fruit  of  Bignonia  tomen- 
tosa,  is  added  to  it,  and  being  put  into  wooden  vessels,  either 
alone  or  mixed  with  native  cinnabar,  or  some  black  substance, 
it  is  sold  all  over  Japan.  The  expressed  oil  of  the  seeds  serves 
for  candles.  The  tree  is  said  to  be  equally  poisonous  with  the 
Rhus  vernix  or  American  poison  tree  commonly  called  swamp 
sumach. 
The  varnish  tree  of  the  Burmese  {Melanorrhcea  usitatissima) 
is  spread  over  a  wide  range  of  country,  extending  from  Memipur,  in 
lat.  25  N.  long.  91  E.,  to  Tavoy,  lat.  14  K,  long.  97  E.  It  attains 
its  greatest  size  in  the  valley  of  Kubba,  distance  about  200  miles 
from  the  sea- shore.  The  trees  average  about  30  or  40  feet  high', 
and  have  a  circumference  of  from  five  to  eleven  feet,  four  feet 
above  the  ground.  A  good  tree  yields  from  10  to  12  lbs.  of 
varnish  annually,  and  its  value  at  Prome,  on  the  Irawaddy,  is 
about  10c?.  the  pound  ;  it  is  used  in  enormous  quantities  by  the 
natives  as  a  lacquer. 
Dr.  Wallich  states  that  the  natives  never  experience  those 
deleterious  effects  from  handling  the  varnish  in  its  liquid  state, 
which  Europeans  generally  suffer  ;  in  its  fresh  state,  it  has  very 
little  pungency  of  taste,  and  is  altogether  devoid  of  smell.  The 
natives  are  very  apt  to  adulterate  that  brought  to  market  with 
sesamum  oil. 
