CAMPHORA. 511 



the much valued Malay Camphor, which remains up to the present day 

 one of the most precious substances of its class. 



There is no evidence that camphor reached Europe during the 

 classical period of Greece and Rome. The first mention of it known to 

 us occurs in one of the most ancient monuments of the Arabic lan- 

 guage, the poems of Imru-1-Kais,^ a prince of the Kindah dynasty, who 

 lived in Hadramaut in the beginning of the 6th century. Nearly at 

 the same period, Aetius of Amida (the modern Diarbekir) used camphor 

 medicinally, but from the manner in which he speaks of it, it was 

 evidently a substance of some rarity.- 



In fact, for many centuries subsequent to this period, camphor was 

 regarded as one of the most rare and ])recious of perfumes. Thus, it is 

 mentioned in A.D. 636, with musk, ambergris, and sandal wood, among 

 the treasures of Chosroes II., of the Sassanian dynasty of kings of 

 Persia, in the palace at Madain on the Tigris, north of Babylon.^ 



Among the immense mass of valuables dispersed at Cairo on the 

 downfall of the Fatimite Khalif ilostanser in the 11th century, the 

 Arabian historians"* enumerate with astonishment, besides vast quan- 

 tities of musk, aloes wood, sandal wood, amber, large stores of Caraphor 

 of Kaisur, and hundreds of figures of inelons in camphor, adorned 

 with gold and jewels, which were contained in precious vessels of gold 

 and porcelain. One grain (crystal ?) of camphor is mentioned as 

 weighing 5 mithkals, one melon of the weight of 70 mithkals, was 

 contained in a golden box weighing no less than 3,000 mithkals 

 (1 mithkal r= 71'49 gr. Troy = 463 gi*ammes). It is also on record 

 that about A.D. 642, Indian princes sent camphor as tribute or a gift to 

 the Chinese Emperors;^ — further, that in the Teenpaou period (A.D. 

 742-75-5), the Cochinchinese brought to the Chinese court a tribute of 

 Barus camphor, said by the envoy to be found in the trunks of old 

 trees, the like of which for fragrance was never seen again.'^ Masudi,*" 

 four centuries later, mentions a similar present from an Indian to a 

 Chinese potentate, when 1,000 menn^ of aloes-wood were accompanied 

 by 10 mean of camphor, the choice quality of the latter being indicated 

 by the remark that it was in pieces as large or larger than a pistachio- 

 nut. 



Again, between A.D. 1342 and 1352, an embassy left Pekin bearing 

 a letter from the Creat Khan to Pope Benedict XII., accompanied by 

 presents of silk, precious stones, camphor, musk, and spices. ** 



Ibn Batuta, the celebrated traveller, relates that after having 

 visited the King of Sumatra, he was presented on leaving (a.d. 

 1347) with aloes-wood, camphor, cloves, and sandal- wood, besides 

 provisions. 



Ishak ibn Amrau, an Arabian physician living towards the end of 



^ In the description of Arabia by Ibn Kdfure-kalmri, i.e., Kaimr Camphor, is a 



Hagik el Hamdany, fol. 170 of the MS. at term still known in the Indian bazaars. 

 Aden ( Prof. Sprenger). » Kauffcr, Geschkhte von Ostmien, ii. { 1 859) 



-He directs two ounces of camphor to 491. 

 be added to a certain preparation, provided « Translation from the Chinese commiini- 



camphor is sufficiently abundant. — Tetr. cated by Mr. A. Wyhe. 

 iv. sermo 4. c. 114. t Les Prairies d'or, i. (Paris, 1861) 200. 



=* G. Weil, Oeschichle der Chalifen, i. s The Arabian mend or menn is equal to 



(Mannheim, 1846) 75. 2i pounds Troy, or 933 grammes. 



^Qiiatrem{iTe,M^m.»urrEyypte,u.{18U) ^Yule, Cathay and the way thither, ii. 



3C(>-375. — It is interesting to find that 3.57. 



