APPENDIX. 201 



his toddy than he could get from leaving it to brew withonfc such ad- 

 juncts. The analyses of the barks, with the exception of the Litsaeas, 

 which contain laurotetanine, has revealed no principle of poisonous or 

 intoxicating properties, therefore the idea of their directly communi- 

 cating a potency to the spirit is not sufficiently established, and, 

 besides, as the sj)irituous liquor is submitted to distillation afterwards, 

 any alkaloid, such as strychnine, would be left behind in the retort. 

 Some of the barks are aromatic, and these most likely are used to 

 flavour the resulting spirit, which would be the case if the aroma 

 resided in a volatile oil. It is probably a spirit of this kind that 

 Dr. Ainslie refers to under the title of 'Puttaicharagxmi^ or bai'k -spirit, 

 an alcoholic liquor in which barks of various aeacias are used in the 

 manufacture. (Z?. jff.) 



Formosa Camphor.* 



Formosa camphor is obtained from the Lattrus ccuvphora^ immense 

 forests of which extend over most of the lower ranges of hills in the 

 island, extending up the lower slopes of the mountains inhabited by 

 the savage tribes. Many of these forests have not been touched, and 

 the statement that the camphor supplies in South Foimosa are 

 becoming exhausted, applies only to those districts which are purely 

 Cliinese. The supply from other parts is practically inexhaustible. 



r 



Even in purely Chinese districts it is only at certain pJaces that the 

 supply is falling off in consequence of the reckless manner in which 

 the trees have been destroyed, partly for the sake of the timber and 

 camphor, and partly, no doubt, simply to clear the ground for 



cultivation. 



It has been often sts-ted that the method of obtaining cnide 



camphor in Formosa is by steeping the chopped branches in water, 



and boiling until the camphor begins to adhere to the stick used for 



stiiTing, when the liquor is strained, and by standing the camphor 



concretes. By this method it does not necessarily follow that the 



tree is destroyed ; in fact, with a little care there is no need that it 



should be. But although this method may have been in use iu 



former days, it certainly is not now. On the contrary, I am assured 



by several natives, engaged in the trade, whom I have questioned on 



the subject, that the yield of camphor from the branches is too small 



to repay tlie labour of extraction. 



c^nnosa 



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