here it is
held in much estimation; but whether it be precisely the drug of our
shops, so named, I cannot take upon me to determine. I am informed that
it is prepared in the following manner: the stamina and other parts of
fructification of this plant, covered with the farina, are mixed with a
certain proportion of white dammar, and boiled in water until the whole
is well incorporated, and the water evaporated; by which time the
composition has acquired a red colour, and, when rubbed between the
fingers, comes off in a dry powder. Whilst soft, it is usually poured
into joints of small bamboo, and shipped in that state. According to this
account, which I received from my friend Mr. Philip Braham, who had an
opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the process, the resinous quality
of the drug belongs only to the dammar, and not to the rotan.

GAMBIR.

Gambir, or gatah gambir, is a juice extracted from the leaves of a plant
of that name, inspissated by decoction, strained, suffered to cool and
harden, and then cut into cakes of different shapes, or formed into
balls. It is very generally eaten by the natives with their sirih or
betel, and is supposed to have the property of cleansing and sweetening
the mouth; for which reason it is also rubbed to the gums of infants. For
a minute detail of the culture and manufacture of this article at Malacca
see the Batavian Transactions Volume 2 page 356, where the plant is
classed between the portlandia and roella of L. In other places it is
obtained from a climbing or trailing plant, evidently the Funis uncatus
of Rumphius.* See also Observations on the Nauclea Gambir, by Mr. W.
Hunter, in the Linnean Transactions Volume 9 page 218. At Siak, Kampar,
and Indragiri, on the eastern side of Sumatra, it is an important article
of commerce.

(*Footnote. Hoc unum adhuc addendum est, in Sumatra nempe ac forte in
Java aliam quoque esse plantam repentem gatta gambir akar dictam, qum
forte unae eaedemque erunt plantae; ac verbum akar Malaiensibus denotat
non tantum radicem, sed repentem quoque fruticem. Volume 5 page 64.)

LIGNUM ALOES.

The agallochin, agila-wood, or lignum aloes, called by the natives
kalambak and kayu gahru, is highly prized in all parts of the East, for
the fragrant scent it emits in burning. I find these two names used
indiscriminately in Malayan writings, and sometimes coupled together; but
Valentyn pronounces the gahru to be an inferior species, and the Batavian
Cat