llie ground, however, becomes black, and mixed with extraneous matter, lliese icicles (as they may
be called) are sometimes as much as a palm in breadth and a foot in length, and exhibit an elegant,
striated appearance. For the first half year, the resin retains its white colour and transparency, but
afterwards assumes a beautiful amber colour. It is brittle, and when broken shines like glass. It is
much harder than the sort known by the name of Dammara Selanica, and in some degiee admits of
being bent, but when pounded it is friable. The product of the male trees is more white and pellucid,
but dries more slowly and exudes in a smaller quantity, whence little or none is collected from them.
To force a supply of this substance, it is usual to make incisions in the lower part of the trunk with
sharp knives. This occasions the formation of large knots in the wounded places, which protrude like
heads, as in the maple, are covered with dammar, and put forth a number of branches. Fhe peasants
clear away the rubbish around the feet of the trees, and dig holes, in order to collect the dammar free
from impurities; where the roots rise bare out of the ground, however, they are made knotty by incisions,
and yield resin like other wounded parts of the tree, becoming covered with a sort of white bark. The
smell of fresh and soft dammar is perfectly resinous, but when dry this substance does not emit any
particular odour; thrown on burning coals, it gives out a smell partaking of turpentine and mastich, as
does also the taste, though the latter is somewhat like the Canarium. It is very inflammable, and burns
longer than the Dammar Selan, but without any crackling, though it emits a great quantity of acidulous
smoke, which produces a very unpleasant effect on those who are unaccustomed to it. As the common
dammar, sold in the market, is white and semitransparent, as well as that collected from the knots of the
lower part of the trunk, so is the latter changeable in its colour, varying from a reddish to a horn, and
even to a black appearance; it is, nevertheless, hard and pellucid, like the great masses and heads which
hang from the thicker branches and oldest trees, for, as these cannot on account of their height be
ascended, the masses hang on them the longer, and lose their original whiteness and become of a horny
colour. This circumstance is particularly remarkable on the dammar trees about Way, whence 1 am
led to believe that the variations of colour proceed from the difference of the time of year, or from
the interval that the masses remain in their native situations. In the year 1088, I sent a piece of
dammar to the University of Leyden, which in its form resembled the head of an infant, and by
artificial means had been made to assume something like features, but the nose was very ugly, and there
were red marks near it, resembling streaks of blood. I have also in my own possession a large white
semitransparent mass, which resembles an immense ox’s gall bladder. Some of the crystalline branches
sent into Holland did not retain their colour, but became, there, of a sort of amber hue.
The Malay name of Dammar Puli, and Dammar Bala, signifies stone resin, for it is the hardest of
all the Dammars, and approaches very near to the Gum Animre. Among the Ternaats it is called only
Salo, or Salo Bobuda; in Amboina Carnal Camar, and Cama\ about Lariqua Isse; and about Grisecca,
in Java, Dama.
The medicinal uses of this resinous substance have not yet been discovered. Some of the people of
Amboina, however, (but I own I would not, myself, be of the number) whose feet have been wounded
with thorns, or splinters of wood, have no sooner extracted the latter than they have dropped into the
punctured parts a drop or two of burning dammar, which has prevented the formation of an ulcer,
and scarcely created any pain in the callous, hard soles of the Indians. This species of Dammar is not
easily liquefied, except by means of an admixture of Calapp oil, or common pitch. It is not found,
however, to adhere well to the keels of ships, but is apt to fall off, and therefore does not answer the
purpose of pitching; yet it deserves further trial, especially in a country where the want of pitch is
attended with so much danger to navigation: other resins, indeed, will in some measure supply its
place. To persons who write much (as clerks and secretaries) the dammar is of some use, for if they
have occasion to scrape out a letter or a word, and will afterwards sprinkle a little of the powder on the
place from which the erasure has been made, the paper is rendered smooth and susceptible of being
again written on; but the letters soon become faint.
The Dammara Radja (called by the Ternaats Salo Colano) is the same resin as that above described,
■ JTiTMi l
but only the largest and most transparent pieces, which hang from the upper part of the trunk, free
from impurities. That which is found in Batsjana and Hallemapera never turns yellow like the
Amboina dammar, but is almost always white, and very gradually acquires any tinge of yellow; in taste
and smell, however, it is the same, and collected from the same kind of tree. This sort alone is
employed by the kings of the Moluccas as a suffumitory, whence it obtains the name of royal dammar,
and the common people are prohibited from using it. There is some amusement in observing people
unacquainted with this substance, who, meeting with it in the shops, take it to be lump sugar; as it is
sold at a very cheap rate, the purchasers seek out the first corner to enjoy a taste of it, but immediately
discover their mistake.
In books of voyages, we sometimes read of large quantities of mastich being found in these islands,
but the substance alluded to is no other than the Dammar Batu, which, when burnt, emits the same
smell.”
EXPLANATION OF TAB. 38.
a. Branch of the Pinus Dammara from Sir Joseph Banks’s herbarium.
b. b. Scales of a ripe Cone.
c. Seed with its Wing.
d. Is supposed by Mr. Francis Bauer, who made the drawing, as well as by myself, to be a female
Catkin, and that the oblong bodies at the base of the enlarged scales E, E, may be the real
stigmas, which, if true, will throw a new light on the fructification of this genus. Dr.
Smith is rather persuaded, from an attentive consideration of the description in Rumphius,
that this is the Male Catkin, and that the bodies in question are Anthera.
2 K