AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 147 



different purpose in Sumatra. When a rajah of the Battas died, 

 his corpse was laid in a coffin made from the wood of the Durio 

 zibethinus^ and there embalmed in camphor and kept enclosed till 

 the rice sown on the day of his death could be harv^ested — five or 

 six months later. By this time the body had become a mummy. 

 It was then buried, together with this new rice. It has been calcu- 

 lated that this custom, every time it was honoured, cost 50-100 

 pounds of camphor, worth 2,000-5,000 florins. 



In the early half of the eighteenth century there was a lively 

 trade with Japan in this Sumatra camphor. But, according to 

 de Vriese, the books of the Dutch Company make no further men- 

 tion of it after 1768, so that it probably ceased then. 



When the Portuguese first went to India, both kinds of camphor 

 were known there and used in medicine. A picul (60 kg.) of first- 

 class Sumatra camphor brought 1,360 dollars. The same weight 

 of Chinese camphor cost 42-45 dollars, the relative values being, 

 therefore, from i : 34 up to i : 30. The fame of the Borneo 

 camphor was known to Camocns, who dedicated a verse to it 

 in his "Lusiad," canto 10, line 133. 



Laurel camphor (Japanese Shono) is obtained from the chips of 

 the freshly felled timber, by distillation with water, at all seasons, 

 but usually in summer. A very sharp, concave adze, with a short 

 handle, is used, with which trunks, branches, and the thicker 

 roots are laboriously hewn into chips, such as fly off in felling 

 a tree. The apparatus used in obtaining camphor, and especially 

 the arrangement for receiving and condensing the fumes, are not 

 everywhere the same. The one which I saw in operation in the 

 woods not far from Kochi, the capital of Tosa, was constructed 

 as follows : On a crown-shaped foundation of primitive masonry 

 (see fig. 8) § m. high, which encircled the fire-place (F), there 

 rested an iron pan (p), and on this a wooden tub (k) i m. in height. 

 The bottom of this, which was perforated, measured 50 cm. in dia- 

 meter, while its upper opening was 37 cm. wide. This vat was 

 surrounded by a layer of mud (w) from 12 to 15 cm. thick, which 

 also rested on the wall below. Before putting this apparatus in 

 operation, the iron pan was filled with water from above, and the 

 vat almost up to its brim with fresh chips. Then a cover (d) was 

 set on top, and plastered steam-tight to the edge of the vat with 

 mud. Then the fuel in the fire-place (f) was kindled. Steam is 

 soon generated. It rises from the pan through the perforated 

 bottom into the vat, where it settles on the chips of camphor- wood, 

 and heats them through. Then, carrying with it the camphor-fumes, 

 it passes off into the cooling apparatus (c) through a piece of 

 bamboo cane (B) which fits in tightly near the upper edge of the 

 vat. This cooling-apparatus lies on a contiguous hill-side, and con- 

 sists of two water-tight troughs or boxes, of different sizes. The 

 larger of them stands on the ground, open side up, and is divided 

 by parallel boards into several communicating compartments, like 



