Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-12-12
The Gutta PerCha Trade

The history of the gutla percha, or gatta ta-
ban, as the learned tell us The best quNniy OF the
gum ought to be caed-is brief, but moi une
venttul. Previous to 1874 the very name Of gut
In that ear two hundred weight of it were ship
ped exporimentalIy from Singapore. The ex-
portation of gutta percha from that port rose in
l845 to l60 picuIs, (the picul is 1873 l-3 bs.) in
l946 te 5, 1854 In lS47 to 9,2O6; in the fist
seven months OF 1913 to GIGS piculs. In the
first for. and a-h hll years of the trade 2l 59o pl.
cuis OF gulta percha, vaned at pa, 100 dollars,
were shipped at Singapore, the whole OF which
was sent to England, with the exception of 10
pculs to Maurtius, 470 to the continent of Eu-
rope, and 922 to the United States. But this
rapid growth of the hew trade conveys only
faint idea of the commoton it created among the
native inhabitants of the lulian Archipelago
The iunges Of the Sohoro were the scene of the
earliest gatherings, and they were soon ransack
ed in every direction by parties of Malays and
Chinese, while the Indigenous population gave
themselves up to the search with unanlmlty u
zeal only to be equaled by that which made
railway jobbers Of every man, woman, and child
in England, about the same time. The Tamun-
gongs, with the usual policy Of oriental govern
ors, declared the precious gum a governmental
monopoly He appropriated greater part o.
the profits, and still left the Malays enough tc
stimulate them to pursue the quest, and TO gair
from 100 to 400 per cent for themselves on wha
they procured from he aborigines.
The Tamnngong, not satisfied with buying a
his own price all that was collected by private
enterprise, sent out numerous parties of from l {
to 100 persons, and employed whole tribes o
hereditary serfs in the quest of gutta percha.-
This organized body of gum hunters spread it
self live a cloud of locusts over the whole of Jo
core, pcnnsular and nsuiar. They crossed thc
frontier into Lnga, but there the Sultan was no
ong in discovering the new value that had beer
conferred upon his jnngles. He coniscated tht
greater part of what had been collected by thu
interloperss, and in emulation of the Tamungon!
declared gulta percha, orgatta tabau, royalty
Whether any protocosing between the potenta
tes was the result of these stringent measures
the historian leaves untold.
The knowledge Of the article stirring the a
vidity Of ga.herers, gradually spread from Sin
gapore northward as faI as Plnang, southwar
along the east coast of Sunatra to Java, east
ward to Borneo where it was found at Bruno
Sarawak, and Pontinak, on the west coast, Il
Keti and PasSr on the east.
Toe imports of gutta parcha INTO Sngapor
from The lst of January to The 22th Of July 1874
according to their geographical description
were: : From the Malay PeninsuIar, 593 plcu's
from the Johnre Archipelago, 1869; from Sum
atra, l,066; from Batavia, 10 from BOrneo, 81
The price at Singapore was originally dollar
per picul it rose to $25, and fell about the mid
die of l84S to $I3. The commotion among tn
human race in the Archipelago was great, bu
the vegetable kingdom suffered most by 1t. L
lhe course of three anda.tlalf years two hund
red and seventy thousand taban trees were iele
IN order to get at the gum.-Daiiy .NelOs.