Note 70 — Chapter X

The Malays at Singapore, in the employ of Europeans, often use the flowers of this shrub for cleansing shoes, by rubbing them with the petals of the flowers, which contain a quantity of purplish black astringent juice. After rubbing them over the shoes, they polish the latter by aid of a brush; it certainly prevents the white dresses, usually worn in eastern climates, from being sullied by the shoes, which often happens when blacking has been used; this is probably the cause of its being called the shoe-flower by Europeans.