64 THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE. 



camphor are found, which is greatly valued in 

 China, and fetches a very high price. The 

 camphor of commerce is principally obtained 

 from Camphora officinarum, a tree of the laurel 

 tribe, a native of China, Japan, and Cochin 

 China. The camphor is obtained from the 

 wood, branches, and leaves, which are boiled in 

 water, and the camphor sublimes. As im- 

 ported, it is in small grains, dirty and greyish 

 in colour ; it is purified in this country by 

 sublimation. In some species of cinnamon, 

 camphor is contained in such abundance, 

 especially in the roots, that they are unfit for 

 use as a spice. 



Most of the spices are limited in their distri- 

 bution. Thus the Myristica moscliata, which 

 produces nutmegs and mace, is confined to the 

 Banda Islands, but is said to have been lately 

 discovered in New Guinea. The Dutch, who 

 were masters of these islands at an early 

 period, endeavoured to secure the exclusive 

 trade and growth of these valuable spices, and 

 so to regulate the quantity produced as to keep 

 up high prices. Sometimes they cut down 

 trees, and at other times destroyed immense 

 quantities of the spice, if the crop was too 

 plentiful. They more than once, however, 

 suffered dearly for their avarice, the nutmeg 

 trees of Banda having been nearly destroyed 

 by hurricanes and earthquakes, which spaced 

 other islands. The quantities imported into 

 this country, in 1848, were, of mace, 47,572 

 pounds, and of nutmegs, 336,420 pounds. 



