orster, is used by the natives for dyeing black.

The black mangrove (_Rhizophora mangle_) is a tree attaining an
altitude of from 30 to 50 feet, and occupying marshy situations in the
vicinity of the sea. Almost every part of the mangrove--the bark,
roots, and the fruit more particularly--abounds in an astringent
principle, which is successfully applied to the purposes of tanning.
As the tree is so abundant within the tropics, it might be worth the
while of some practical speculator to make an extract on the spot, and
introduce it into the English market, for the use of tanners and
dyers. For tanning, the mangrove is said to be infinitely superior to
oak bark, completing in six weeks an operation which with the latter
occupies at least six months, and the sole-leather so tanned is said
to be more durable than any other. The bark and leaves, which contain
nearly as much tannin as the oak, are made use of in the West Indies,
as well as in Scinde and other parts of Asia.

3,713 piculs of mangrove bark, valued at L819, were shipped from
Shanghae, one of the Chinese ports, in 1849.

MYROBALANS.--This is a name applied to the almond-like kernels of a
nut or dried fruit of the plum kind, of which there are several sorts
known in the East. They are the produce of various species of
_Terminalia_, as _T. Bellerica, chebula, citrina_, and _angustifolia_.
They vary from the size of olives to that of gall nuts, and have a
rough, bitter, and unpleasant taste. Many of the trees of this tribe,
which are all natives of the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and
America, are used for tanning, and some for dyeing. They are highly
valued by dyers, creating, when mixed with alum, a durable dark brown
yellow. Myrobalans fetch in the Bombay market 8s. to 26s. the Surat
candy of 821 lbs. The bark and leaves of _T. Catappa_ yield a black
pigment, with which Indian ink is made; the seeds are eaten like
almonds. A milky juice is said to flow from _T. angustifolia_, which,
when dried, is fragrant, and, resembling Benzoin, is used as a kind of
incense in the Catholic churches in the Mauritius. The fruit of _T.
Bellerica_, and of _T. Chebula_, both useful timber trees, indigenous
to the East Indies, are used medicinally as a tonic and astringent.
117 cwts. of myrobalans were shipped from Ceylon in 1845.

The annual imports of myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 1,600
cwts. The quantity which arrived at Liverpool was 185 tons in 1849,
851 tons