Avn.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
October.  1895.  J 
Siam  Benzoin. 
527 
gum  benjamin  is  sold  is  not  necessarily  confined  to  the  eighth  or 
ninth  months.  The  reason  for  selecting  that  season  is  because  the 
people  of  those  parts  have  many  other  things  to  do ;  for  instance, 
they  have  to  plow  the  fields  and  reap  their  rice  harvest.  In  the 
eighth  and  ninth  months  their  work  on  the  paddy  fields  is  finished, 
and  they  can  therefore  turn  their  attention  to  gum  benjamin.  For 
this  reason  there  is  a  special  season.  Their  paddy  fields  are  their 
first  care,  and  then  the  gum  benjamin  trade.  Those  who  have  no 
business  writh  plowing  paddy  fields  and  planting  rice  can,  if  they 
wish,  work  continuously  at  gum  benjamin,  at  all  seasons  and  during 
every  month  of  the  year.  The  gum  benjamin  trade  requires  no  very 
great  outlay  of  capital.  All  the  implements  required  are  one  large 
axe,  a  rice  basket  and  an  open  woven  basket.  If  a  person  wishes  to 
work  alone,  without  servants  to  assist  him,  he  can  do  so  ;  for  in  the 
first  stages  there  is  nothing  much  that  requires  to  be  lifted  or  carried. 
The  only  labor  necessary  would  be  when  the  gum  benjamin  is  being 
picked  and  placed  in  baskets,  and  has  to  be  carried  to  the  temporary 
or  permanent  home  of  the  picker.  The  profits  gained  on  any  one 
particular  occasion  or  another  can  hardly  be  gauged  accurately.  Those 
who  work  out  much  sell  at  a  large  profit ;  those  who  work  out  little 
sell  at  smaller  profit.  One  catty  (133^3  Pounds)  and  upwards  would 
be  considered  a  large  output.  Picked  gum  benjamin  is  sorted  into 
three  classes.  The  best  class,  and  that  which  fetches  a  high  price, 
is  called  "  slua,"  and  is  that  which  is  sold  in  large  lumps,  and  is  not 
dirtied  by  the  presence  of  bark.  The  second  class  is  that  left  over 
from  the  first  class,  and  is  in  somewhat  smaller  lumps  than  the  lat- 
ter, and  has  some,  but  not  much,  bark  attached  to  it.  This  is  infe- 
rior in  quality  to  Class  I,  and  is  half  the  value.  That  is  to  say,  if 
Class  I  is  sold  at  75  ticals,  Class  II  would  sell  at  37^  ticals.  The 
third  class  is  that  left  over  from  Class  II.  This  class  has  bark 
attached  to  it,  is  soiled  with  dust  and  dirt,  and  is  in  small,  fine 
pieces.  It  is  called  "  mun,"  and  is  half  the  value  of  Class  II.  The 
price  of  gum  benjamin,  as  sold  in  the  jungle  districts  where  the  gum 
is  worked,  is  as  follows :  Class  I,  one  Chinese  catty  (662/3  pounds), 
100  or  about  75  ticals.  Class  II,  half  the  price  of  Class  I.  Class 
III,  half  the  price  of  Class  II.  The  price  in  Bangkok  is:  Class  I, 
one  Chinese  catty,  260  ticals,  as  it  has  always  been. 
The  gum  benjamin  trees  that  grow  in  the  jungle  districts  referred 
to  are  not  the  subject  of  disputed  ownership  by  one  person  more 
