10 



MALAYAN ISLES. 



CasiaI 



Camphor. 



■^-oody monntanous tracSts; there it pervades the higheft treesy 

 and interlacing its branches from bough to bough, forms, by its 

 innumerable ramifications and fpinous ftems, an impenetrable 

 thicket. 



In order to fit this cane for the purpofe of a walking ftick, a 

 fingle interilice of fufficient lengtli between two joints is made 

 choice of ;. this is loaded with a weight, or bound tight to a board, 

 for the fpace of a month, and alfo expofed to fmoak, to diminifli 

 fomewhat of its natural pliability. 



Rumphius obferves, Herb. A^nb. vol. 5. p. too, that no author 

 he had feen defcribed this cane, which he imputes to its growing 

 only in the remote parts of Indian and fequeftered mountainSj, 

 rarely vifited by Europeans^ till they acquired fovereiga power 

 over fome of the regions. 



Laurus Caja *, or baftard cinnamon, grows in abundance in. 



the interior parts of the north of the ifland ; it is fometimes 



fifty and fixty feet high, and two feet in diameter ; much of 



, the bark is exported as the true cinnamon ; and from the root, 



a camphor niay, as is faid, be extracted. 



A TREE t producing camphor, abounds here and in Borneo ; 

 it grows near to the fea, and is equal in bulk to our largeft oaks,, 

 being fometimes fifteen feet in circumference, and a hundred 

 feet high. The timber is excellent for the ufe of the carpenter,, 

 being light and durable, and refills the injury of infedls. This 

 valuable drug. Camphor %, is as much valued by the Sumatrans as 

 by the Europeans^ and ferves for medical purpofes. It has very 



• Outlines ofthe Globe, vol. i. p. 142. f Linfchotten, p. 81. 



X Marfden's Sumatra, p. 120. 



long. 



