The gambir does not grow taller than eight feet.
The leaves, which are used in dyeing, are first stripped from the stalk,
and then boiled down in large coppers. The thick juice is placed in
white wooden vessels, and dried in the sun; then it is divided into slips
about three inches long, and packed up.
Singapore is an island of _fruits_. It boasts of the delicious
mangosteen, which almost melts in the mouth, and delights the palate with
its exquisite flavour. It boasts, too, of splendid pine-apples,
frequently weighing as much as four pounds. Also of sauersop, as big as
the biggest pine-apples, green outside, and white or pale yellow inside,
with a taste and fragrance like that of strawberries. Nor must the
gumaloh be forgotten: it is divided, like the orange, into sections, but
is five times as large, and not quite so sweet. Finally, we must refer
to the custard-apple, which is very white (though full of black pips),
very soft, and very enticing in flavour.
* * * * *
From Singapore we follow Madame Pfeiffer to Point de Galle, in Ceylon.
The appearance of this fair and fertile island from the sea is the theme
of every traveller's praise. "It was one of the most magnificent sights
I ever beheld," says Madame Pfeiffer, "to see the island soaring
gradually from the sea, with its mountain-ranges growing more and more
distinctly defined, their summits lighted by the sun, while the dense
cocoa-groves, and hills and plains, lay shrouded in shadow.
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