The history of Sumatra : $b Containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitantsMarsden, William
History
The history of Sumatra : $b Containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitants
Marsden, William
Natural history -- Indonesia -- Sumatra; Sumatra (Indonesia)
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
Catalogue 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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