alogue describes it as the heart of the rasamala, and different from
the genuine kalambak. This unctuous substance, which burns like a resin,
is understood to be the decayed, and probably disordered, part of the
tree. It is described by Kaempfer (Amaenit page 903) under the Chinese
name of sinkoo, and by Dr. Roxburgh under that of Aquillaria agallocha.

TIMBER.

The forests contain an inexhaustible store and endless variety of timber
trees, many sorts of which are highly valuable and capable of being
applied to ship-building and other important purposes. On the western
coast the general want of navigable rivers has materially hindered both
the export and the employment of timber; but those on the eastern side,
particularly Siak, have heretofore supplied the city of Batavia with
great abundance, and latterly the naval arsenal at Pulo Pinang with what
is required for the construction of ships of war.

TEAK.

The teak however, the pride of Indian forests, called by the Malays jati
(Tectona grandis, L.), does not appear to be indigenous to this island,
although flourishing to the northward and southward of it, in Pegu and
Java; and I believe it is equally a stranger to the Malayan peninsula.
Attempts have been made by the servants of the Company to promote its
cultivation. Mr. Robert Hay had a plantation near Bencoolen, but the
situation seemed unfavourable. Mr. John Marsden, when resident of Laye in
the year 1776, sowed some seeds of it, and distributed a quantity amongst
the inhabitants of his district. The former, at least, throve
exceedingly, as if in their natural soil. The appearance of the tree is
stately, the leaves are broad and large, and they yield, when squeezed, a
red juice. The wood is well known to be, in many respects, preferable to
oak, working more kindly, surpassing it in durability, and having the
peculiar property of preserving the iron bolts driven into it from rust;
a property that may be ascribed to the essential oil or tar contained in
it, and which has lately been procured from it in large quantities by
distillation at Bombay. Many ships built at that place have continued to
swim so long that none could recollect the period at which they were
launched.

POON, ETC.

For masts and yards the wood preferred is the red bintangur (a species of
uvaria), which in all the maritime parts of India has obtained the name
of poon or puhn, from the Malayan word signifying tree in general; as
puhn upas, the