The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-07-13
USEFUL
Origin Of q Valuable Conn
modify.

city or southern Ittlis SItliteu at Tue
extremity of the long and narrow 18TH
mus of Malacca. 1t is almost exactly
under the equator, and consequently has
a very hot climate. Indeed, the heat
and insalubrity of the coast prevented,
to a great degree, the explorations nee
essary to a knowledge of the natural pro-
ducts of the region, until comparative
ly recent date.
More than thirty years ago, an English
physician named Montgomery, who was
spending a little time at Singapore, took
it into his head, one day, to ramble in
the skirts of the tropical forests, which
at that period stretched nOrthWard at no
great distance from the town. The heat
being oppressive he kept on, having III
view the denser shade of certain large
trees which he perceived i'll advance OF
him. While resting here a few minutes,
cluded to follow it, though 1T led h1m
deeper into the thicket than he had at
first intendedto go. He came, ~atlength,
to d group of native wood cutters, busy
at their work of dwelling trees with the
clumsy Darang, arude instrument OF h
Ratchet kind.
Sitting down on a log to watch them,
he noticed one of these instruments
struck into it with the handle toward
him. This led the doctor to observe 1T
carefully and he saw with surprise, that
upon it were carvings, as he supposed OF
quite an elaborate character, giving the
handle a highly ornamental appearance.
It's material, too, excited his curiosity,
and, as he could not make out what kind
of WoOdit was, hecalled one OF the work
men and inquired. He vas told that the
handle of the parang was not OF wood,
but was made of the gum of just such
trees as they were then and there cutting!
We may imagine with what interest Our
scientific doctor prosecuted his inquiries
about this substance of which he had
never before heard.~
cit is just the gum Of these percha
trees,n said the native in the worst pos
sible English, but which the awakened
interest of his interlocutor helped him
somehow, to make out; See, here is
some of the gutta Cor gum); it now looks
like dirty milk, but will soon harden III
the air. Then if you put it into hot wa
ter it will grow soft again, and you a
can indent it with burrows, or press it
into any ornament you like, and it will
take the exact form of it. This is my
parang, and | made the handle myself
in that way. When cooled, it retains all
these pictures and looks al you see, like
Carving.n
Doctor Montgomery farther learned
from his simpleinfOrmant, thatthe Malay
people had used this substance from an
Gent times to make various articles of
convenience, such as whips, shoes, jugs,
basins, etc, some Of which had occasion
ally attracted the notice of foreigners,
but there had never been any demand
in market for the gum, and it was only
gathered in small quantities by any one
who wanted it fOrhome use. 1t was not
considered of sufficient value to lead to
the protection of the trees, which were
destroyed IN the rude methods OF prOcu-
ring the gum res0rted to by the natives.
This led to a careful examination of
the trees themselves, by the doctor, who
was beginning to comprehend what
value such a sigTiiar substance might ac-
quire in the hands of those who could
turn it to skilful or scientific account.
The tree grew all around him. to the
hight of fifty or sixty feet, with trunks
from two to three feet in diameter. The
leaves were of a pale green on the upper
surface, and beneath of q lighter color
and covered with reddish brown hairs.
The gum was abundant, and would flow
readily from any slit or puncture Of the
bark, though the natives usually felled
the tree to obtain it the more readily.
The forests were at that time, generally
considered as common property, out of
which any one might appropriate what
he chose. And as the gun in question
had no commercial value, nobody knew
or cared how many of these valuable
trees were annually destroyed.
Doctor Montgomery returned from his
ramble in the forest much wiser than he
was beforeon onesubject, atleast. He re-
volved itin his mind, obtained additional
information, made tests and trials with
the "gutta,n called to it the attention of
some of the foreign residents at Singa-
pore, and finally wrote aminute account
and forwarded specimens of it to several
of his scientific friends in Europe. And
though at first the interest manifested
by his countrymen seemed tardy and in
%credulous, it was at length fully ava
kened. The properties of the new pro-
duct We're examined and analysed, and
its applicability to a great number OF
uses in manufactures and the arts fully
demonstrated by experiment..
Attic presentmoment the well-known
substance, guttG pereha, (its Malay name
having been retained, which means gum
of the pereha tree,) is one of the most
important articles of modern commerce
And the purposes it is made to serve by
skill and science are almost infinitely
more numerous than our honest doctors
most sanguine expectations could con.
ceiVe, as he examined the handle of q
Malay parang, sitting on a percha log al
Singapore, forty years ago.
Dppupr,vIz .r4YYs n .pT.,yry r., r,nI,