Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1850-10-02

| THE GUTTA PERCHA IRADE-ln ne his'ory oi,ule
gu.ta percha or gaa taban, the learned tell us the
best quality Of the gum ought to be cailed-s brle
but not unevenful. Previous to 1914 The very name
of gutta percha was unknown to European commerce
In that year two cwt of it were shipped experiment
tally from Singapore. The expectation OF gutta per-
cha from that port rose in 1916 70 169 piculs (the
picu is 1873 1-S lbs. j in 1916 10 1854 in ls47 to
$685. in the first seven months OF 1875 to o7oS pl-
cnIs oe gu,ta percha. valued at 274 100 dollars were
shipped at Singapore, the whole OF when was sent
10 ENGLAND with the exception of Is pculs 10 Mau-
rus, 470 10 the continent of Europe, and 922 to the
United States But this rapid growth Of the new
trade conveys only faint idea OF the commollon 1t
created among the native inhabitants OF the Indian
Archipelago. The jungles Of the Johore were the
scenes of the earliest gatherings, and they were soon
ransacked in every direction by parties Malays and
Chinese, while the Indigenous population gave them
selves up the search with unanlmy and zeal only
10 be equaed by tha! which made railway jobbers
of every man, woman and child in England about the
same time. The Tamungong, with the usual policy
OF oriental governors, declared the precious gum
government. monopoly. He appropriated the greater
Dart of the profits, and still left the Malays enough to
stimulate them 10 pursue the quest, and 10 gain from
100 TO 400 per cent. for themselves on what they
procured from the aborigines. The Tamungong, not
satisfied at buying at his own price all that was COL
ected by private enterprise, sent out numerous par
lies Of from 10 10 100 persons, and employed whole
tribes of hereditary sers in the quest OF gua percha
This organized body OF gum-hunters spread ITSELF
like cloud of locusts the whole OF Johore, pc
rnsular and nsuar. They crossed the frontier INTO
Lingo, but there the Sultan was not long IN discov
erng the new value that had been conferred upon his
iungles He confscated the greater part oi what had
been collected by the inleopers and in emulation OF
the Tamungong declared guta percha, or gatta taban
royalty. Whether any proocollsing between the
poentaes was the result Of these stringent measures
the historian leaves untold. The knowledge of the
article stirring the avdily of gatherers, gradually
spread from Singapore northward as far as Pinang,
Southwark along the east coast of Sumatra to Java,
eastward to Borneo, where il was found at Bruno,
Sarawak and Pontianak on The west coast at kell
and Passir on the east. The imports ofgutla percha
into Singapore, from the first Of January to the l2th
of July, ls4s, according to their geographical de-
scrip,ion, were From the Malay Peninsula, SOB pl-
culs; from the Johore Archipelago, 1853; from Su-
matra, 1865; from Batavia, l9; from Borneo, oo'-
The price at Singapore originally SS per pIcui;
it rose TO "a, and fell about the middle OF lS4S 10
l3. The commo!on among the human race in the
Archipelago was great, but the vegetable kingdom
suffered most by il. In the course of three and a
half wears 100000 taban trees were ieled in order
to get at the gum.--London Daily .Neics.