CAMPHORA. 513 



the island of Formosa and in Japan. We have no evidence that any is 

 manufactured at the present day in China, although very large trees, 

 often from 8 to 9 feet in diameter, are common, for instance in 

 Kiangsi, and camphor wood is an important timber of the Hankow 

 market. 



In Formosa, the camphor-producing districts lie in the narrow belt 

 of debateable gi-ound, which separates the border Chinese settlements 

 from the territory still occupied by the aboriginal tribes. The camphor 

 is prepared from the wood, which is cut into small chips from the trees, 

 by means of a gouge with a long handle. In this process there is 

 great waste, many trees being cut and then left with a large portion 

 of valuable timber to perish. The next operation is to expose the 

 wood to the vapour of boiling water, and to collect the camphor which 

 volatilizes with the steam. For this purpose, stills ai-e constructed thus : 

 — a long wooden trough, frequently a hollowed trunk, is fixed over a 

 furnace and protected by a coating of clay. Water is poured into it, 

 and a board perforated with numerous small holes is luted over it. 

 Above these holes the chips are placed and covered with earthen pots. 

 A fire having been lighted in the furnace, the water becomes heated, and 

 the steam passing through the chips, carries with it the camphor, which 

 condenses in minute white crystals in the upper part of the pots. From 

 these it is scraped out every few daj's, and is then very pure and clean. 

 Four stills, each having ten pots placed in a row over one trough, are 

 generally arranged under one shed. These stills are moved from time to 

 time, according as the gradual exhaustion of timber in the locality 

 renders such transfer desii-able. A considei-able quantity of camphor is 

 however manufactured in the tewns, the chips being conveyed thither 

 from the country. A model of a much better still, which was con- 

 tributed from Formosa to. the Paris Exhibition in 1878, is perhaps 

 referring to a tewn manufacture. 



Camphor is brought from the interior te Tamsui, the chief port of 

 Formosa, the baskets holding about half a pecul each (1 pecul = 133^ 

 lbs.), lined and covered with large leaves. Upon arrival, it is stored in 

 vats holding from 50 te 60 peculs each, or it is packed at once in the 

 tubs, or lead-lined boxes, in which it is exported. From the vats 

 or tubs there drains out a yellowish essential oil known as Caviphor 

 Oil, which is used by the Chinese in rheumatism.^ In 1877 hydraulic 

 pressure has been established for the separation of the oil and moisture ; 

 the raw camphor loses about 20 per cent, of these admixtures. 



Kampfer in his account^ of the manufacture of camphor in the 

 Japanese province of Satzuma and in the i-slands of Gotho, describes the 

 boiling of the chips in an iron pot covered with an earthen head 

 containing straw in which the camphor collects. "In the province of 

 Tosa, island of Sikok, there is now a still in use, which is quite con- 

 veniently combined with a cooling apparatus consisting of a wooden 

 trough, over which cold water is flowing.' 



' The foregoing particulars are chiefly the Geogr. Magazine, 1877, 263 and 319. 



extracted from the Trade Report of Tarmul - Op. cit. p. 772. 



by E. C. Taintor, Acting Commissioner of ^ Both of the above mentioned stills 



Customs, published in the Reports on Trade from Sikok and Formosa are figured in my 



at the Treaty Ports in China for 1869, '^^ Account of the Parin Exhibition," Archis 



Shanghai, 1870, and from James Morrison's der Pharmacie, 214 (1879) 12.— F.A.F. 

 Description of the island of Formosa, in 



2k 



