202 THE CAMPHOR-TREE OF BORNEO. 
being used in medicine as a tonic and aphrodisiac, exactly the opposite 
qualities to those which we attribute to the Zaurus-camphor. It is 
also much used for inflamed eyes, to which the Celestials are very sub- 
ject, a small grain being from time to time placed under the lid. The 
smell is pleasanter than that of the ordinary camphor, and it does not 
become sublimed so rapidly in the air. The oil seems to consist of a 
very volatile essential oil, holding in solution a resin, which on a few 
days’ exposure to the air is left in a syrupy state. It also yielded me 
asmall quantity of crystallized camphor, on distillation with a very rough 
extempore apparatus. I have found it, by many trials on myself and 
others, to act powerfully and decisively as a diuretic in tiresome ne- 
phritic pains, to which we sojourners in the ‘bowels of the land’ are . 
very subject, and it does not nauseate as turpentine frequently does on 
repetition. It is also here a popular remedy for rheumatism, being 
rubbed into the affected part. It is also a fragrant, quickly-drying, 
and well-bodied varnish, for which purpose I have used it largely. It 
requires rubbing until dry, like French polish. China is as yet the sole 
market, where it is used principally for embalming; its value here 
is about 20 cents (10d.) per bottle, in China about half a dollar. 
The resin is of no use as far as I know, except that the natives are 
fond of applying it, as in fact they do almost every gum they pick up, 
to all sorts of cuts and wounds, which, as may be expected, hardly ever 
heal without a tedious sore. The timber of the Dryobalanops is very 
hard, dense, and difficult to work with a plane, is of a reddish hue 
when first eut and very fragrant, but changing to a light brown; it 
bends readily, and is preferred by the Malays to all other woods for 
planking their boats. Upon some of the hills in Labuan, Camphor- 
trees form at least half the jungle; but the drug is rarely met with 
on this island, and, where most common, not one tree in twenty yields 
. any; hardly a tree of any size, however, is to be seen, which has 
. not been tried by cutting a hole in the side of the trunk. They are 
the noblest trees, not merely of our jungle, but the handsomest I 
ever saw; the trunk being very tall, round, and straight, furnished 
with huge buttresses at the base, and covered with a light brown, 
smooth, scaling bark; the head dense, well formed, and large for a 
jungle tree, the leaves very rigid and bright, and of a good dark 
green, and the fragrance of the beautiful white flowers most delicious. 
The fruit, though smelling most powerfully of spirits of turpentine, 
