I.] CAMPHOR. 23 



constant evidences of volcanic agency throughout the island, which 

 show that it forms a link in the great chain which runs from 

 Kamschatka southward to the Philippines. Hot springs and 

 solfaterras are found in the neighbourhood of Tamsui, and, in spite 

 of the working of the sulphur being forbidden by the Chinese 

 Government, a large quantity is produced and exported to Hong- 

 kong. Mineral oil has also been discovered, but, as yet, it has not 

 developed into an article of export. The Chinese are not a mining 

 people, and the three or four million of them that people Formosa 

 are content to gain their living, for the most part, as cultivators of 

 the varied vegetable products that the rich soil so readily affords 

 them. They divide the island pretty equally with the aboriginal 

 savage tribes, but a mere glance at the physical features of the 

 country, as exemplified by the map, is sufficient to show broadly 

 the distribution of the two races. The aborigines, or rather the 

 natives sprung from Malayan stock (for there is a doubt as to 

 whether they are not the successors of a race now extinct), 

 are now confined to the rugged mountain country of the eastern 

 and southern districts, while the Chinese are limited to the plains 

 of the western part, and to a small extent of country at the north 

 of the island. Year by year the latter steadily advance in their 

 search for camphor, but the advance is slow, and the ground only 

 gained at the cost of many a Chinaman's head. The trees from 

 which this drug is obtained are of considerable size, and are only 

 found in the primeval forests. They are felled for the timber, 

 which fetches high prices in Hongkong and other Chinese ports, 

 and is chiefly used in the construction of boxes and chests of 

 drawers. The smaller wood is broken up and heated in iron 

 retorts, and the camphor, on subliming, is collected and packed 

 in barrels, and sent down to the northern seaports for exportation. 

 In spite of the almost inexhaustible supply that must still exist in 

 the dense forests of those parts of the island inhabited by the 

 savage tribes, it is noteworthy that the export has of late years 

 steadily diminished, and in 1881, 9316 piculs only passed the 



