The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 72

Value of cleared land, ten orlongs 200 Six laborers per annum 360 Quit rent 7 Boilers, firewood, and implements 20 Houses 50 Incidental 30 ---- Total first year 667 Second year 397 ---- 1,064

The six laborers on the plantation will, after the above period, be constantly employed in cutting and preparing the gambier: the average product will be 15 piculs monthly, which, at two dollars per picul, will be 30 dollars monthly, or 360 dollars per annum. This is the account obtained by collating different Chinese statements.

The _Nauclea Gambir_ is placed by Jussieu under the natural order _Rubiaceae_; it is a shrub attaining the height of six to eight feet, branchy; the leaves are ovate, pointed, smooth, waving, distinctly veined transversely underneath, of dark green color, and, when chewed, they have a bitter astringent taste, leaving however, afterwards, a sweetish taste in the mouth, not unlike liquorice; the flowers are aggregate, globular, composed of numerous florets, crowded on a globular naked receptacle; tubes of the corolla of a pinkish color; the upper part of the corolla fine, cleft, and of a greenish yellow color; the staminae are five in number, and short; the pistil is longer than the corolla; the flowers are dest.i.tute of fragrance; the capsules (as correctly stated by Mr. Hunter) are stalked oblong, incrusted, and crowned with a calyx; tapering to a point below; two celled, two valved, the valves adhering at the apex, splitting at the sides; seeds very numerous, oblong, very small, compressed, furnished at both ends with a membraneous pappus.

The gambier plant is propagated either by seeds or cuttings, but the latter are preferred. It is cultivated to some extent at Singapore, but it is said that the gambier can be imported cheaper from the islands in the vicinity, more especially at the Dutch settlement at Rhio. The extract is used extensively by the natives of India, Eastern Archipelago, Cochin-China, and Cambodia, as a masticatory, wrapped up with the betel.

There are three different qualities of extract; the first and best is white, brittle, and has an earthy appearance when rubbed between the fingers (which earthy appearance gave it the name of Terra j.a.ponica, being supposed, at first also, to come from j.a.pan), and is formed into very small round cakes. This is the dearest sort, and most refined, but it is not unfrequently adulterated with sago; this kind is brought in the greatest quant.i.ty from the island of Sumatra. The second quality is of a brownish yellow color, is formed into oblong cakes, and, when broken, has a light brown earthy appearance; it is also made into a solid cube form; it is sold in the bazars in small packets, each containing five or six. The third quality contains more impurities than the preceding, is formed into small circular cakes, and is sold in packages of five or six in the bazar.

The method employed in preparing the extract is thus correctly related by Finlayson:--"The leaves are collected three or four times a year; they are thrown into a large cauldron, the bottom of which is formed of iron, the upper part of bark, and boiled for five or six hours, until a strong decoction is obtained; the leaves are then withdrawn, and allowed to strain over the vessel, which is kept boiling for as many hours more, until the decoction is insp.i.s.sated; it is then allowed to cool, when the catechu subsides, The water is drawn off; a soft soapy substance remains, which is cut into large ma.s.ses; these are further divided by a knife into small cubes, about an inch square, or into still smaller pieces, which are laid in frames to dry. This catechu has more of a granular, uniform appearance than that of Bengal; it is, perhaps, also less pure."

The younger leaves of the shrub are said to produce the whitest and best gambier; the older, a brown and inferior sort. There are other species of _Nauclea_ indigenous to Singapore, but they do not produce any extract.

Dr. Bennett has particularised four qualities of gambier:--

1. Small round cakes, about the size of a small lozenge. Color pale, purplish, yellowish, white.

2. Cubes, in which shape it is princ.i.p.ally imported into England, and square prisms, or oblong pieces.

3. Circular discs, or short cylindrical pieces.

4. Cubical amylaceous pieces, of a darker brown than the other kinds.

Gambier is one of the most powerful of the pure astringents.

The chief places of manufacture are Saik, Malacca, Singapore, and Rhio or Bintang. Bennett, in his "Wanderings," says there are 60,000 plantations of gambier on this island. After that of Rhio, the next best gambier is that of Lingin. That used by the Malays, with the leaves of betel, in the same manner as cutch in other parts of India, is the finest and whitest; the red being stronger tasted and rank, is exported to Batavia, China, and England, for the purposes of tanning and dyeing. It is frequently adulterated with sago powder, but it may be detected by solution in water.

Large quant.i.ties of gambier are imported, under the corrupted name of cutch, into Calcutta, from Pegu. The quant.i.ty of gambier produced in Rhio, by the Chinese settlers, amounts to about 4,600 tons a year, about 2,000 of which are exported for the consumption of Java, the rest being sent to Cochin-China and other neighbouring countries.

Two methods of obtaining gambier are described. One consists in boiling the leaves in water, and in insp.i.s.sating the decoction; the other, which yields the best gambier, consists in infusing the leaves in warm water, by which a fecula is obtained, which is insp.i.s.sated by the heat of the sun, and formed into cakes.

The injudicious practice adopted by the Land Office in Singapore, of granting indiscriminate licenses, or "cutting papers" as they are formed, seems open to objection, and is driving many of the Chinese cultivators to the neighbouring island of Joh.o.r.e, where they readily obtain permission to cultivate, without obstruction, this important article of commerce. Parties of 300 or 400 at a time left in 1846. It appears that, under his permissive license, the squatter obtains permission to clear as much land as he possibly can, but the order does not define any extent beyond which no cutting should take place.

The squatter clears as much land as the means at his disposal will allow, in the hope and expectation that the jungle contiguous to the cleared ground will be at his command for fuel--a supply of fuel, easy of access, and adequate to the number of plants grown, being indispensable to the culture and manufacture of gambier. When the time for gathering the leaves arrives, another squatter (perhaps from motives of envy or malice) obtains a "cutting paper," and commences clearing in close proximity to the already-formed gambier plantation; obviously depriving the owner of the fuel he has reasonably calculated upon. The established planter cannot of course eject the intruder from the land, since the latter possesses an equal right to it, in virtue of his "cutting paper," which, as it specifies no limits, leaves him the disposer or destroyer of the crop of the industrious planter.

Instead of the present system, a better practice ought to be introduced, defining the boundaries to be included in a "cutting paper," and effectually preventing a trespa.s.s on the fuel-land of the industrious planter. This might easily be effected by specifying the number of acres, as well as the direction, in every clearing paper granted.

The average produce of gambier in Singapore is between 7,000 and 8,000 piculs monthly. The ordinary price is about 1 dollars per picul. A deficiency of rain, labor, or other causes, will occasionally reduce the annual produce from 90,000 or 100,000 piculs, to 60,000 or 70,000, and this diminished supply will raise the market price of the article probably 35 cents per picul. But, in addition to the effect occasioned by a deficient supply, there are other causes in operation exercising a powerful influence in reducing prices. Gambier was first exported in 1830, from Singapore, to the extent of 2,587 piculs, at 4 dollars per picul. As a rival to bark it failed at so costly a price to meet with encouragement; the culture and manufacture consequently declined until 1834, when 1,858 piculs were s.h.i.+pped to England at a somewhat lower rate. The demand then became active, the exportations were at first multiplied, then doubled every succeeding year, until they reached, in 1846-47 no less than 173,117 piculs. The price has gradually declined to 1 dollars per picul, at which rate it displaces its rival, bark.

This price, however, is unremunerative to the grower, so that, unless more encouragement offers, the supply will decline.

The number of Chinese employed in the cultivation, &c., of gambier and pepper in Singapore is about 11,000. Their rate of wages fluctuates with the price of gambier. If a picul of gambier realizes 1 dollars, the monthly pay will be about three dollars; if gambier fetches two dollars, their pay will amount to four dollars in the month. The workmen who clean the plantation always receive a dollar less than those who cut and boil the gambier.

A good deal of gambier seems now to be grown in Java, for 58,305 piculs were exported from that island in 1843. A small quant.i.ty is taken by the Chinese ports, but whether as a masticatory or for tanning and dyeing I am not aware.

VALUE OF THE TERRA j.a.pONICA IMPORTED INTO CEYLON.

1840 611 1841 1,053 1842 768 1843 471 1844 1,153 1845 537 1846 824 1847 1,549 1848 1,095 1849 896 1850 265 1851 386

In the Customs' returns of imports to this country, two articles are enumerated, under the separate names of cutch and terra j.a.ponica; the former is catechu and the latter the produce of the gambier plant. The imports of gambier were, in 1836, 970 tons; 1837, 2,738 tons; 1838, 1,600 tons; 1839, 5,213 tons.

Cutch. Terra j.a.ponica.

tons. tons.

1848 Imported to the United Kingdom 1,186 5,623 Retained for home consumption 765 5,102 1849 Imported 1,636 6,851 Retained for home consumption 869 5,400 1850 Imported 1,172 4,585 Home consumption 787 3,655 1851 Imported 2,401 4,783 Home consumption 2,020 4,431 1852 Imported 2,236 3,244 Home consumption 1,708 3,003

Catechu, imported under its Indian name of cutch, is brought over in bales or baskets of from one to four cwt., the price being 18 to 25 per ton. About 450 cwt. of terra j.a.ponica or gambier is annually imported into Hull from the East Indies. The imports of the two substances into Liverpool is about 900 tons. Gambier is only worth 13 to 14 the ton; a few years ago it fetched 26s. the cwt. The imports into the port of London average 1,500 tons annually.

4,679 bales, and 14,436 baskets of terra j.a.ponica were imported into Liverpool in 1851, and 14,000 bales and baskets in 1852. The imports of cutch were 10,290 bags, and 2,592 baskets, in 1851, and 11,873 bags and baskets in 1852; the prices, which were from 16s. 6d. to 18s. per cwt. for each article, in 1851, were rapidly run up in Liverpool, in 1853, owing to short supplies, to 25s. for gambier, and 22s. to 24s.

per cwt. for cutch, or catechu.

EXPORTS OF GAMBIER FROM SINGAPORE, WITH THE OFFICIAL VALUE IN RUPEES.

Piculs. Value in rupees.

1840-41 Exported 79,508 457,560 " Growth of Singapore 59,325 1841-42 Exported 93,340 470,790 " Growth of Singapore 47,696 1842-43 Exported 148,746 548,281 " Growth of Singapore 110,151 1843-44 Exported 139,050 584,449 " Growth of Singapore 121,791 1844-45 Exported 157,654 539,978 " Growth of Singapore 134,528 1845-46 Exported 110,766 425,643 " Growth of Singapore 75,797 1846-47 Exported 173,117 591,943 " Growth of Singapore 143,795

The exports of gambier from Singapore were as follows:--

To England. To the Continent. Total.

piculs. piculs. piculs.

1849 134,546 6,121 140,667 1850 87,611 16,166 103,777 1851 68,365 11,639 80,004 1852 68,045 9,006 77,051

The exports of cutch from Pinang, in the last four years, have been:--1849, 3,693 piculs; 1850, 900; 1851, 4,143; 1852, 3,880; or, on an average, 197 tons.

DIVI-DIVI is the commercial name for the curved pod of a leguminous shrub, _Caesalpinia coriaria_, which is sometimes imported from Carthage. Its tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The quant.i.ty of mucilage which it contains precludes it from the use of dyers; but, as it furnishes nearly 50 per cent. of tannin, it is largely used by curriers. It is imported into Liverpool from Rio de la Hacha, Maracaibo, and Savanila. 400 tons of the seed pods and bark of the Algaroba, or Locust-tree (_Prosopis pallida_) were imported in 1849 into Liverpool from Valparaiso, as a subst.i.tute for divi-divi in tanning. 3,200 lbs. of divi-divi were exported from the port of Augostara, in 1846.

Specimens of divi-divi which had been raised at Calcutta were shown in the Indian department of the Great Exhibition.

Dr. Hamilton states that, according to some admirably conducted experiments of Mr. Rootsey, of Bristol, undertaken at his request, the pods of divi-divi contain above 50 per cent. of tannin. It appears also, from trials made, that one part of divi-divi is sufficient for tanning as much leather as four parts of bark, and the process occupies but one-third of the time.

The average produce of pods from a full-grown tree has been estimated at 100 lbs. weight, one-fourth of which consists of seeds or refuse, leaving about 75 lbs. of marketable matter.

At an interval of six feet apart, an acre of ground will contain 1,210 trees, yielding an average of 810 cwts., and 30 pounds, or above 40 tons of marketable matter, worth, at only 5 per ton, 200. Should the interval between the trees be extended two feet more, we shall still have 680 to the acre, the produce of which would not improbably be increased by the increased s.p.a.ce given for the extension of the branches.

The ground in which this tree admits of being cultivated is that which is least adapted to the staple products of tropical agriculture; guinea gra.s.s may be profitably raised beneath its shade and as with the exception of the three years which precede the commencement of its bearing, there is hardly any deduction to be made from its returns, it promises to be among the most valuable objects of a planter's attention.

Jacquin describes the _Caesalpinia coriaria_ as a handsome branching tree, of about fifteen feet in stature, covered with a dark spotted bark. Its leaves are doubly pinnate, and the leaflets of twelve pair without a terminal one; they are oblong, obtuse, smooth, very entire.

The flowers are disposed in spikes issuing from the extremities of the branches; they are small, yellowish, and slightly fragrant. To these succeed oblong, compressed, somewhat obtuse pods, curved laterally, the inner side being concave and the other convex. The seeds rarely exceed three or four in each pod, and are of a brownish color.

Divi-divi resembles a dried pea-shuck curled up, filled with yellow powder, and a few dark brown seeds. The price ranges from 8 to 13 per ton.

The imports into the United Kingdom in 1844, were 3,900 tons; in 1845 and 1846, about 1,400 tons each year; during the subsequent three years the imports were merely nominal, but in 1850 a renewed demand seems to have sprung up, for 2,770 tons were imported into Liverpool, and a few tons into London.

CORK-TREE BARK (_Quercus suber_) has been imported into Ireland to a considerable extent, frequently to the amount of 1,500 tons annually.

The quant.i.ty of cork imported annually into the United Kingdom is about 3,000 tons. It is brought from Spain, Italy, and Barbary. Oak bark and valonia being very cheap and plentiful, the price of cork hark is only nominal, being, for Spanish cork-tree bark, 7 10s. to 8 per ton; Leghorn ditto, 6 to 7 per ton. It is less astringent than oak bark, and is more generally useful for stoppers of bottles and bungs for casks. 160 tons of cork-tree bark were imported into Liverpool from Rabat in 1849, and 150 tons in 1850.

1,867 cwts. of bark for tanning were imported from Chili in 1844, of which 292 were Quillai bark.

MIMOSA BARK.--The bark of the _Mimosa decurrens_, which abounds in Australia and Van Diemen's Land, is found to be a very powerful tanning agent.

The first s.h.i.+pment of tannin was made from Sydney to England as far back as 1823, in the shape of an extract of the bark of two species of mimosa, which was readily purchased by the tanners at the rate of 50 per ton. One ton of bark had produced four cwts. of extract of the consistency of tar.

In 1843, 3,078 tons of mimosa bark was s.h.i.+pped from Port Phillip to Great Britain. The price then realised in the London market was 12 to 14 per ton, but it has since declined to 8 a ton. The quant.i.ty of this bark to be procured in the colony is quite inexhaustible. The price of chopped mimosa bark in Australia, for export, in the close of 1846, was 2 5s. per ton. Bark valued at 912 was exported from Van Diemen's Land in 1848.