Pliny gives us a whole chapter on this wood * ; he fays it was-
“ !Trunco enodi materie nigri fplendoris, ac vel Jine arte protinus
*» jucundi.” Virgil- was miftaken by confining ebony to Indict, it
was alfo produced in Æthiopia. Herodotus (in ’Thalia) tells us
that the /Ethiopians paid their tribute every-three years in that
article to the Perfian kings. It was efteemed the moft valuable
tribute after gold apd ivory. Pompey had air ebony tree carried
before him in his triumph over Mithridates ; yet to this day we
have not one to place in-our celebrated garden at Kew.
Tiek; T h e Teeki, TeBona grandis-, the pride o f the eaftern fbrefts,
grows in the north and eaft of Sumatra.
P i n e s . T h e pines which captain Cook found in the différent parts o f
the fouth feas are common here, and are called- Ar-ou ; they
flourifll in a light fandy foil, and are the firft trees that grow on:
lands deferted by the fea. At page 70, tab. 51, o f the firft volume
o f Captain Cook’s fécond voyage, is fome account o f this tree,,
'which as yet has not been claffically defcribed.
S a n d a l ; - Sandal wood J, P'téro’càrpus Santolinus, both the white and the
red, are produced in Sumatra. '
M a n c h i n e e l . - T h e poifonous Manchineel tree, Ilippomane Mancinilia §, is
common here, as well as in thc PVeJl Indies, and furnifhes a moft
ufeful timber, as it refifts the attacks o f the Termes, or white
ants; it is alfo valuable in works of ornament, the wood being
' finéîÿ veined ; but the juice is fo noxious, that i f any falls on the
eyes it will occafion ablindnefs of manÿ days,and thé very drop-
» L ib .x i i.c ,4 . f Outlines of the G l o b e , p , . 8-1. tab. iv.
I I b k vol.b p. 140. ■ . •§ Cateiby, vol. i. p. 95.
_ j " . pings
pings of the leaves after rain, raife blifters on the ikin ;; Handing
under its ihade for any length o f time affe&s the fenfes.
• One of the SiderOxylons, or iron woods, is common here, and o f I r o n W o o d .
great ufe on account of its extraordinary hardnefs ; it may be
the Sideroxylon inerme, Hort. Pith. 357* tab- 265. Hort. Kew.
i. 260.
T h e pitch called Hammer, mentioned in the article Pulo con- D a m m e r .
dor, is extradied in abundance from certain refinous trees which
go under the eorhmon Malayan name o f Canari ; they grow in
vaft plenty in the fpice iilands, but we find that fome fpecies '
have extended far more weft. Rumphius defcribes all o f them ,
but the fpecies produélive of this article are-the Dammara nigra,
vol. ii. p. 160. tab. 52, and the Dammara nigra légitima, 162. tab. 53,
quantities are fent to Bengal and other places, for the fame ufes
as pitch and tar are in Europe, and particularly for the ihip-
ping.
A mong the trees or vegetables produdlive of the neceftary E s c u l e n t s .
food for thé natives, is the Coco palm ; rice, the Padda or upland;
the common Mayz ; Sefamum in great quantities, for the oil it
produces, which is ufed only in burning ; Ricinus palma Chrijti,
for the caftor oil, grows wild ; Coftus Arabicas, Amomum zeram-
bet, and feveral others are raifed for medicinal purpofes. A
Runiphius is wanted to pervade the forefts of this vaft ifland, and
bring to light the numberlefs hidden treafures it contains, important
perhaps in mechanics, medicine, and the luxuries of life.
T h e Cycas circinalis, o r fago tree*, begins to appear here, but
is not in fuch general ufe as a food, as we ihall find it in the sago.
* “ Outlines of the- Globe, vol. ii -p* 245* . ‘
mare