Boxing and Firing

Dayak man from the village of Ensibau in West Kalimantan setting the dried leaves and twigs that he has crammed into a "box" cut into the trunk of this Dipterocarpus tree on fire to get the dried damar resin (see Damar) flowing again. This technique of collecting resin from wild trees is called "boxing and firing". I don't imagine that the trees like it very much. [NOTE: For the obsessively observant, the villager from Ensibau shown in the photo above, is the same one shown here cutting shingles (from a similar Dipterocarpus species)]. 

Damar

Damar is the local name for the resin produced by several genera (e.g. Dipterocarpus, Shorea) of Dipterocarp trees in Southeast Asia.  The dried resin (shown above) is a valuable source of varnish and caulking, and it is exploited commercially by numerous communities in Borneo and the Malay Peninsula.

Damar is tapped by climbing the tree and cutting small pyramidal holes or "boxes" (indicated by the white circle above) at various heights along the trunk.  In response to wounding, the tree starts to exude resin which collects in the bottom of the boxes.  The damar is scraped out with a parang.  The flow of damar usually stops after a couple of days because the resin ducts have become clogged with dried resin. To start the flow again, the old resin is melted away by building a small fire in each box.  This method of tapping, not surprisingly, is known as "boxing and firing". [NOTE: The collector is about 10 - 12 m up the tree on a wobbly, disposable ladder made from bamboo].