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ribs are small and extend towards the sides ; 

 their surface is smooth and shining: they are 

 male and hermaphrodite in dificrent trees : it is 

 a large tree, with ascending branches : the leaves 

 quite entire, smooth, mostly alternate, but 

 some opposite, petioled, whitish underneath : 

 the flowers white, on simple, lono', lateral pe- 



duncles : the bcrrv smal 



ovate, dusky or 



brownish red. It 'is a native of'China,' &c, 

 Its wood is in much esteem for carpenters' pur- 

 poses, being easily wrought, light, durable, and 

 not liable to he injured "by insects, particularly 

 ihe coombang, a species 'of bee, which, from 

 Its tacidty of boring timber for its nest, is called 

 the Carpenier. 



The chief of the Camphor used in Europe is 

 prepared from this tree in Japan, by splitting 

 the wood into small pieces, and subliming o° 

 distillmg it with water in an iron retort, covered 

 With an earthen or wooden bead, in the hollow 

 of which tbey fasten hay or straw, to which the 

 Camphor, as it rises, adheres. This Camphor 

 IS brownish or white, but in very small semi- 

 pellucid grains. It is packed up in wooden 

 casks, and thus sent to India and Europe, where 

 It IS purified by a second sublimation, and re- 

 duced into the solid mass as found in the shops. 

 Native Camphor, or the Capoor Barroos of the 

 Malays, is a production obtained in Sumatra 

 and Borneo by cutting down the trees, and 

 splitting them with wedges into small pieces, 

 the Camphor being found'in the interstices in the 

 state of a concrete crystallization. Some have 

 asserted that it is from the old trees alone that 

 this substance is procured, and that in the young 

 trees it is in a fluid state, called meeuio 'capoor 

 or Camphor oil; but this is a mistake: the 

 same sort of tree that produces the fluid does 

 not produce the dry, transparent flaky substance, 

 nor ever would. They are readily disiinguished 

 by the natives. Many of the trees,' however, pro- 

 duce neither the one nor the other. The traders 

 usually distinguish three degrees of quality, by 

 the names of head, hellij, and foot, accordine- 

 to its purity and whiteness. Some add a fourth 

 sort, of extraordinary fineness, of which a few 

 pounds only are imported to Canton, and sell 

 there at the rate of two thousand dollars the 

 peail. 



The Common Camphor will evaporate till it 

 wholly disappears ; while that of Sumatra and 

 Borneo, called Native Camphor, though subject 

 to some decrease, does not appear to Tose much 

 in quantity from being kept. 



Camphor oil is obtained by the Sumatrans 

 by making a transverse incision into the tree, to 

 the depth of some inches, and then cutting 

 tlopingly downwards from above the notch, till a 



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flat horizontal surface be left. This they hollow 

 out, till it is of a capacity to receive a quart : 

 then put into the hollow a bit of lighted reed, 

 and let it remain for about ten minutes, which 

 acting as a stimulus, draws the fluid to that 

 part. In the Space of a night the liquor fills 

 the receptacle previously made. The trees are 

 soon exhausted. 



The eighth in its native situation is a tree 

 twenty feet high or more, tlie trunk about six 

 feet high, a foot and a half in diameter, the outer 

 bark smoothish, and of a dusky ciiv-reous co- 

 lour; it has spreading brandies that form an 

 elegant head ; but in our stoves it is only of low 

 growth : the leaves are opposite or nearly so, 

 ovate-oblong, oblong-acuminate, or siibovatc, 

 bluntly acuminate, quite entire, shining, coria- 

 ceous, on short petioles, from three to five 

 inches long; the three nerves spring from the 

 petiole, and either immediately recede from each 

 other, or continue united for a line or two and 

 then diverge ; they are of a bright green on the 

 upper surface, but pale on the under, with the 

 nerves whitish. On the younger branches or 

 twigs arise slender common peduncles, from 

 opposite axils, the terminatins; ones an inch, the 

 others two or three inches long, lliree-flowered 

 at top, orelsetrifid, with each division three- 

 flowered : the flowers small, greenish yellow, 

 almost insipid, with a somewhat foetid smell : 

 the fruit the form and size of a middling Olive, 

 insipid, deep blue and soft, inclosing a thin, 

 pale-coloured nut with a wliite kernel, which 

 germinates soon after it falls, and therefore can- 

 not easily be transported to a distance: the inner 

 bark perfectly resembles the Oriental Cinnamon 

 in smell, taste, and figure ; the only difference 

 is, that it has a coarser te.xture, and a more 

 acrid taste, which may arise from the climate. 

 It is a native of Martinico and Brazil, flowerino- 

 in February and March. 



There are several varieties ; but it is the Cey- 

 lon CInnamnn that is chiefiy used as a spice. 



The ninth is supposed, according to Martvn, not 

 to be a distinct species from the true Cinnamon. 

 The difference of the bark may, he supposes, be 

 owing to soil or situation, but more probably to 

 want of skill or attention in the cultivators. The 

 Cassia bark is coarser, and will not roll up like 

 true Cinnamon ; but the essential difference be- 

 tween the bark of Cinnamon and Cassia is, that 

 the former is always dry, whereas the latter be- 

 comes mucilaginous in chewing ; hence it has 

 been suggested here, as a conjecture on the most 

 respectable authority, that the superior excel- 

 lence of Cinnamon bark may be in a great mea- 

 sure owing to its having been deprived of that 

 mucilage v.hich adheres to its interior surface. 



