When the fossil resin is taken out of the ground, it is covered with earth, and its surfaee is found to be in a partial state of decay. When the digger is tirud of work, he puts his resin into a bag, and eanies it to his tent or hut, and in the evining, or upon rainy days, he scrapes off tho decayed surface until the clear solid gum beneath is reached. When a sufficient quantity of it has been scraped, it is put into a box or bag, and taken to the nearest store or public house, where it is sold for what it will bring. Sometimes the purchaser will assort it, but it is not generally assorted till it reaches the city buyer, who employs a large nurnber of skilled bands for that purpose. The reale, after it is soraped and assorted, is packed carefully in boxea, so as to prevent the lumps from breaking. It is then ready for export. The dust and scrapings are also exported.
The total exports of the resin from New Zealand rose from 2850 tons in 1869 to 5054 in 1871, and fell to 2568 in 1874 ; in 1880, they were expected to reach 5500. More than I goes ultimately to the United States, being either shipped direct to New York aud Boston in sailing vessels, or vie London. Our imports roso from 36,514 cwt. in 1876, to 60,844 ewt. in 1880, from New Zealand alone ; in the letter year, there were 2916 ewt. additioual from other counties, the total being 63,760 ewt, value 192,6581. Some of the resin is used in New Zealand for varnish-inaking, and some of the " young" resin is consumed as a masticatory by the Maoris. The living forests are rapidly disappearing. The Government has taken no steps for their perpetuation, either by conserving or planting ; and at the present rates, it is estimated that 50-80 years will see the bulk of the trees destroyed. The question remains, what amount of the fossil resin may bo assumed to exist, but it is extremely difficult to form any correct opinion. Our re-exports of the resin in 1880 were 22,523 owt., 62,1331., to the United States; 3334 ewt, 11,9411., to Holland ; 2842 ewt, 10,2271., to Gerinany ; 2019 cwt., 78351., to other countries; total, 30,718 ewt., 92,136/. The approximate London market values are :—Packings aud rough, 20-80s. a ewt.; scraped, 46-97s. ; good to fiue scraped, 55-122s.; seleoted, 115-200s.
Kauri occurs in commerce in large pieces; the fossil resin is usually pale-yellow or greenish yellow, dirty-brown in inferior samples. The lustre is sometimes opaline ; the fracture is eon ehoidal and vitreous ; the odour is balsamic, and pronounced and characteristic in recently-broken or well-preserved pieces; the flavour is aromatic and pleasant ; the sp. gr. of the New Zealand resin ] • 109, that of the New Caledonian is 1.119. It readily melts and dissolves in boiling alcohol, and in turpentine-oil ; also in sulphuric aeid, with a red colour. The Maoris burn it to
obtain a fine black pigment from the smoke, and use it us a masticatory. In Europe and America, it is chiefly employed for making a, varnish rivalling copal, and for giving a gloss to calicoes. Some of the finer specimens are made to replace amber in jewellery, but are less hard and more brittle. It has been used to sorue extent as a substitute for shellac in photographic varnishes.
Kim (FR. Eine; GER. Kino).—The term "gum kino " is applied to a class of asttingent extracts of varied origin, none of which can accmstely be called either resins or gums.
1. E. Indian or Amboyna Kino.—This is obtained from Ptcrocarpus Narsupium, a COMMOR tree in the Central and S. parts of the Indian peninsula, and in Ceylon ; and a liquid kind from 1'. indicus, of S. India, Burma, Malacca, Penang, the Andamans, and Malaysia. The colle,ction of the juice is effected in tbe following manner. A perpendicular incision, with lateral offshoots, is made in the atom of the tree when blossoming has set in, a:ad a receptacle is placed at the foot of tho incision. The exuding juice appears like red-currant jelly, but it soon thickens by exposure to the air, and when sufficiently dried, is packed into wooden boxes fur exportation. It is one of the reserved timber-trees of the Government forests in Madras, and its juice is collected by natives, who pity a small fee for the permission. The haidened juice consists of blackish-red, angular, pea-like grains, partially soluble in water, almost entirely in spirit of wine of sp. gr. 0.838, readily in caustic alkaline solutions, and largely in a saturated solution of sugar. The liquid kino produces a very inferior article on drying. The annual collection of kino in Madras probably _does not exceed 1-2 tons. Its approximate London market value is 60-150s. a owt. It is employed medicinally (see p. 815), and in the manufacture of wines, and might be employed as a source of tannin in dyeing and tanning, if sufficiently cheap.
2. Butea, Bengal, Palas or Dhah Kino.—This variety afforded by the palas or dhak tree (Butea frondosa), common throughout India and Burma, and affording a dyestuff (see p. 867, Time), and a fibre (see p. 933),as well as by B. superba and B. parvi flora. During the hot season, there issues from natural fu3sures and from wounds made in the bark of the stem, a red juice, which quickly hardens to a ruby-coloured, brittle, astringent mass. It occurs in small drops or tears, and in flat pieces which have been dried ou leaves, and is almost always mixed with bark-fragments. It is trans parent, freely soluble in cold water, and does not soften in the mouth. It is unknown in European commerce, but is employed in India as a substitute for the kind first described.