Among the most extensively useful productions ought not to be forgotten the _bámbu_, or _príng_, which abounds on Java, and seems, from the greater luxuriance and variety by which it is here distinguished, to find the soil and climate more congenial to its growth than those of any other country. It blossoms in different parts of the island. The rattans (_rótan_) of Java are on the whole inferior to those of Sumatra and Borneo: the improved state of cultivation is unfavourable to their growth and propagation.
Many woods afford excellent fuel. The charcoal prepared from the _kusámbi_ is equal perhaps to that of any other wood with which we are acquainted, and is universally preferred in cooking, and in the other branches of domestic economy. Charcoal, for gunpowder, is uniformly prepared from the celtis orientalis, called _áng'grung_.
Among the useful trees must be noticed: the soap-tree, of which the fruit is used to a very great extent in washing linen:--the _kasémak_, from the bark of which is made a varnish for umbrellas:--the _sámpang_, from the resin of which the natives prepare a shining varnish for the wooden sheaths of krîses:--the cotton-tree, from which a silky wool is obtained for stuffing pillows and beds:--the wax-tree, which, though scarce on Java, grows abundantly on some parts of Madúra: (the kernel, by expression, produces an oil, which some time after becomes hard and bears a resemblance to wax; it may be burnt in lamps or converted into candles, and affords an agreeable odour): the _bendúd_, a shrub producing the substance of which the elastic gum, commonly called Indian-rubber, is prepared. The art of preparing it in this form is however unknown in Java. Torches are made of it, for the use of those who search for birds' nests in the rocks, and it serves for winding round the stick employed to strike musical instruments, as the _gong_, &c. to soften the sound. The _mínyak káwon_ or _niátu_ is a very useful tree, which grows solitary in all, and abundantly in some parts of the island, and produces a kind of tallow.
_Dámar_, or resin, is distinguished by the inhabitants of these countries into two kinds: _dámar-bátu_ or _séla_, and _dámar-puti_, comprising numerous varieties obtained from different trees. None of these are, however, produced on Java. Besides the _rásamála_, which is very limited as to its place of growth, the _Canáram_, and a peculiar resin employed by the natives for varnishing the wooden sheaths of their krîses, called _sámpang_, few odoriferous resins are found. The camphor-tree, which abounds on Sumatra and Borneo, is unknown on Java. The wood oil, distinguished among the Malays by the name of _krúwing_ (which in Java is applied to all resinous or oily substances employed in the construction of vessels), is not a native of Java, but it grows abundantly on Banka and Sumatra.