522 
Siam  Gamboge. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     October,  1895 
"  I  recently  had  the  opportunity  of  paying  a  visit  to  this  part  of 
Siam,  and  it  may  be  of  interest  to  describe  the  character  of  the  tree 
and  the  mode  of  extracting  the  resin.  The  tree  is  known  locally  as 
'  Ton  Rong.'  It  is  found  only  in  the  islands  of  Koh  Chang,  Koh 
Kong  and  Koh  Rong,  and  the  mainland  of  the  Indo-Chinese  penin- 
sula opposite  these  islands.  The  trees  grow  to  the  height  of  some 
fifty  feet,  and  are  straight  stemmed  with  no  lower  branches,  owing 
probably  to  the  dense  shade  of  the  forests  in  which  they  grow. 
None  of  those  I  saw  had  a  diameter  of  more  than  12  inches.  Ten 
years'  growth  is  said  to  be  required  before  the  tree  is  ready  for  tap- 
ping. This  is  carried  on  by  the  Cambodian  and  Siamese  islanders 
in  the  rainy  months,  from  June  to  October,  when  the  sap  is  vigor- 
ous, by  cutting  a  spiral  line  round  the  trunk  from  a  height  of  some 
10  feet  downwards  to  the  ground.  Down  these  grooves  the  resin 
wells  out  of  the  bark  and  trickles  in  a  viscous  stream  into  hollow 
bamboos  placed  at  the  base  of  the  tree,  and  from  these  it  is 
decanted  into  smaller  bamboos,  where  it  is  left  for  about  one  month 
to  solidify.  To  remove  the  gamboge,  the  bamboo  is  placed  over  a 
red-hot  fire,  and  the  bamboo  husk  cracking  off,  there  is  left  an 
article  known  as  'pipe  '  gamboge.  The  trees  can  be  tapped  two  or 
three  times  during  one  season,  and  at  the  end  of  the  season  their 
trunks  present  a  curious  network  of  intercepting  spirals. 
Care  must  be  taken  to  prevent  the  rain-water  mixing  with  the 
resin  in  the  grooves,  as  any  mixture  of  water  causes  honey-comb- 
ing and  black  discoloration,  and  a  consequent  depreciation  of  from 
20  to  30  ticals  (2/.)  per  picul  in  value. 
The  most  valuable  gamboge  is  that  which  is  the  least  honey- 
combed or  discolored,  and  is  all  the  more  difficult  to  obtain,  con- 
sidering the  period  of  heavy  rains  during  which  the  resin  is  ex- 
tracted. 
The  bamboos  contain  on  an  average  rather  less  than  I  lb.  of 
gamboge,  or  about  170  bamboos  to  the  picul.  The  price  asked  by 
the  pickers  themselves  is  at  the  rate  of  2  ticals  (35.)  for  five  bam- 
boos full,  and  the  local  price  is  at  the  rate  of  2  ticals  (35.)  for  three, 
or  65  ticals  (4/.  i8.f.)  per  hundred,  or  about  SI.  Js.  per  picul. 
The  whole  output  is  sold  to  local  Chinese  traders  and  taken  by 
sailing  boat  to  Bangkok. 
