Chapter XLI: Section IV (5)

Two methods of obtaining gambier are described. One consists in boiling the leaves in water, and in inspissating 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 inspissated 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 Johore, 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 trespass 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 1¼ 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 4½ 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 shipped 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 1¼ 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 1½ 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 quantity is taken by the Chinese ports, but whether as a masticatory or for tanning and dyeing I am not aware.

VALUE OF THE TERRA JAPONICA 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 japonica; 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 Japonica.
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 japonica 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 japonica 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, _Cæsalpinia coriaria_, which is sometimes imported from Carthage. Its tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The quantity 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 substitute 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 40½ 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 space 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 grass 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 _Cæsalpinia 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 quantity 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 shipment 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 shipped 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 quantity 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.

The imports of mimosa bark have only been to a limited extent within the last few years, reaching 350 tons in 1850, against 110 tons in 1849, 230 tons in 1848, and 600 tons in 1847. The prices realised were £10 to £11 for chopped, £12 to £12 10s. for ground, and £8 to £9 per ton for unchopped bark. Whilst the imports were 3,900 tons in 1814, they dwindled to less than 400 tons in 1850.

From an experiment, conducted by Professor Brandt, the strength of the mimosa bark, as compared with that of young English oak bark, is found to be in the proportion of 57 to 39, so that the mimosa bark is half as strong again as the best English bark.

Mr. Samuel Mossman, in a communication to the Botanic Society of Edinburgh, in 1851, stated that the bark of _A. dealbata_ pays to ship to England, notwithstanding the distance, from the fact of its containing a greater per centage of tannin than any other bark. It is a handsome tree, from fifteen to thirty feet high, forming luxuriant groves on the banks of streams, most abundant in Port Phillip and Twofold Bay, between the parallels of latitude 34 and 30 degrees.

New Zealand is rich in barks and dyes. The bark of the Tanahaka (_Phyllodadus trichomanoides_, of Don) is used by the natives as a red dye for the ornamental parts of their kaitahas, their best border garments. There is also another red dye, called Tawaivwai, the bark of which is very profuse. A black dye is procured from the hinau. They are of a rich hue, and exceedingly fast colors. The barks are to be found all over the colony. The hinau and tanahaka are employed in tanning, all the leather used in the colony being tanned either at the Bay of Islands or Port Nicholson.

The bark of the Rimu or red pine (_Dacrydium Cupressinum_, of Solander), a very common tree, possesses tanning qualities far superior to any of the Australian barks. One pound of the bark yields 85 grains of extract.

The native tanning barks of New Zealand are various and easily obtained. Specimens of the bark and dye, &c., of most of these trees were sent home to the Great Exhibition. One pound of the Tanahaka bark is said to yield 63 grains of tannin. The sails of boats are dyed with it to preserve them. The Towai (_Licospermum racemosum_, of Don, _Weinmaunia racemosa_, Decandole), is supposed to be valuable for the purposes of the tanner, and is said to yield 104 grains of tannin for every pound of bark. The bark of the Pohutu kawa of the natives, the _Metrosideros tomentosa_of Richard, and _Callistemon ellipticum_ of Allan Cunningham, would also be useful for tanning, one pound of it furnishing about 60 grains of tannin.

The bark of the Hino tree, the _Elæocarpus hinau_ of Cunningham, the _Dicera dentata_ of Forster, is used by the natives for dyeing black.

The black mangrove (_Rhizophora mangle_) is a tree attaining an altitude of from 30 to 50 feet, and occupying marshy situations in the vicinity of the sea. Almost every part of the mangrove--the bark, roots, and the fruit more particularly--abounds in an astringent principle, which is successfully applied to the purposes of tanning. As the tree is so abundant within the tropics, it might be worth the while of some practical speculator to make an extract on the spot, and introduce it into the English market, for the use of tanners and dyers. For tanning, the mangrove is said to be infinitely superior to oak bark, completing in six weeks an operation which with the latter occupies at least six months, and the sole-leather so tanned is said to be more durable than any other. The bark and leaves, which contain nearly as much tannin as the oak, are made use of in the West Indies, as well as in Scinde and other parts of Asia.

3,713 piculs of mangrove bark, valued at £819, were shipped from Shanghae, one of the Chinese ports, in 1849.

MYROBALANS.--This is a name applied to the almond-like kernels of a nut or dried fruit of the plum kind, of which there are several sorts known in the East. They are the produce of various species of _Terminalia_, as _T. Bellerica, chebula, citrina_, and _angustifolia_. They vary from the size of olives to that of gall nuts, and have a rough, bitter, and unpleasant taste. Many of the trees of this tribe, which are all natives of the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and America, are used for tanning, and some for dyeing. They are highly valued by dyers, creating, when mixed with alum, a durable dark brown yellow. Myrobalans fetch in the Bombay market 8s. to 26s. the Surat candy of 821 lbs. The bark and leaves of _T. Catappa_ yield a black pigment, with which Indian ink is made; the seeds are eaten like almonds. A milky juice is said to flow from _T. angustifolia_, which, when dried, is fragrant, and, resembling Benzoin, is used as a kind of incense in the Catholic churches in the Mauritius. The fruit of _T. Bellerica_, and of _T. Chebula_, both useful timber trees, indigenous to the East Indies, are used medicinally as a tonic and astringent. 117 cwts. of myrobalans were shipped from Ceylon in 1845.

The annual imports of myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 1,600 cwts. The quantity which arrived at Liverpool was 185 tons in 1849, 851 tons in 1850; 27,212 bags in 1851, and 19,946 bags in 1852; they come from Calcutta and Bombay, and are also used for dyeing yellow and black. The price in January, 1853, was 6s. to 12s. per cwt. The average annual imports into the United Kingdom may be taken at 1,200 tons.

KINO.--The Kino, of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land, is the produce of the iron bark tree, _Eucalyptus resinifera_. White ("Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales"), says this tree sometimes yields, on incision, 60 gallons of juice. Kino is imported in boxes. The tincture of kino is used medicinally, but an inconvenience is frequently found to arise, from its changing to the gelatinous form. Dr. Pereira seems to think this species of kino consists principally of pectin and tannic acid. That chiefly used as East Indian kino, is an extract formed by inspissating a decoction of the branches and twigs of the gambler plant. Vauquelin analysed it, and found it to consist of, tannin and peculiar extractive matter, 75; red gum, 24; insoluble matter, 1.

The East Indian kino, imported from Bombay and Tellicherry, is the produce of _Pterocarpus marsupium_, a lofty, broad-spreading forest tree, which blossoms in October and November. The bark is of a greyish color, and is upwards of half an inch in thickness on the trunk. When cut, a blood-red juice speedily exudes and trickles down; it soon thickens, and becomes hard in the course of fifteen or sixteen hours. The gum is extracted in the season when the tree is in blossom, by making longitudinal incisions in the bark round the trunk, so as to let the gum ooze down a broad leaf, placed as a spout, into a receiver. When the receiver is filled it is removed. The gum is dried in the sun until it crumbles, and then filled in wooden boxes for exportation.

_P. erinaceus_, a tree 40 to 50 feet in height, a native of the woods of the Gambia and Senegal, furnishes kino, but none is collected in or exported from Africa. _Butea frondosa_, or the dhak tree of the East Indies, furnishes a similar product, in the shape of a milky, colored, brittle, and very astringent gum. Kino is used as a powerful astringent, and is administered in the form of powder and tincture. Some specimens of Butea kino, analysed by Prof. Solly, after the impurities had been separated, yielded 73¼ per cent. of tannin.

VALONIA is the commercial name of the cupula or cup of the acorn, produced by the _Quercus ægilops_ and its varieties, the Balonia or Valonia oak, natives of the Levant, from whence, and the Morea, they form a very considerable article of export; containing abundance of tannin they are largely used by tanners. The tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The bark of _Q. tinctorea_, a native of North America, yields a yellow dye.

The quantity of valonia imported for home consumption, in 1836, was 80,511 cwts., of which Turkey furnished 58,724 cwts., and Italy and the Ionian islands 7,209 cwts. Of 163,983 cwts. imported in 1840, 143,095 cwts. were brought from Turkey, 15,195 cwts. from Italy, and the residue from Greece and the Ionian Islands. The entries for home consumption in the three years ending with 1842, amounted to about 8,200 tons a year. The increase since has been considerable, the imports having been, in 1848, 10,237 tons; in 1849, 16,671 tons; in 1850, 12,526 tons; in 1851, 10,639 tons; in 1852, 13,870 tons. We receive about 14,000 to 20,000 cwts. annually from Leghorn. The imports into the port of Hull are 3,900 cwts. per year.

The prices of Smyrna valonias are from £13 to £14 per ton; those of picked Morea, £10 per ton. The duty received on valonias imported in 1842 was about £4,000.

The annual produce is sufficient to meet the wants of all Europe. It can be had in Turkey to any extent and at all periods. Many cargoes are sent to Dublin, and the German markets. A little valonia is exported from Manila, the shipments having been about 150 tons per annum.

Camata and Camatina are two varieties of very young valonias, which are found more valuable for some processes of tanning than the common kinds.

Extensive as has been the enumeration of the vegetable substances used in the various branches of art and manufacture which have formed the principal subjects of this section, it is probable that with the progress of knowledge, of scientific experiment, and of investigation into the properties of given commodities, the list will be indefinitely increased. What I have stated will suffice to give the reader an idea of the surprising variety of sources from which we receive the raw materials which enable us to perfect some of the most elegant processes of manufacturing skill and ingenuity, and will further afford some criterion--though, of course, not a perfect one--for estimating the relative importance of the tanning and dyeing substances.