66 EAMBLES OF A NAtTDEALIST. [Ch. IV. 



and maize are cultivated ; and a straight reach of 3| miles 

 brought us to Twa-tu-teen, a large village, where the stream 

 trended to the south, and after another mile and a half we 

 arrived at Mbang-ka. 



This is a large town, situated on the river side, and 

 abounding in the narrow and unsavoury streets before 

 described, one side being covered over with a kind of arcade, 

 and the other side open, but by far the dirtier of the two, 

 being chiefly occupied by pigs and children, both of which 

 swarmed everywhere. Accumulations of filth lay about at 

 the very doors of the inhabitants, and it was no unusual 

 sight to see women adorned with bright and gaudy finery 

 sitting within a foot or two of a pool of seething filth enough 

 to breed a pestilence. Chairs or sedans were to be obtained 

 here — ^rickety vehicles, in one of which I perambulated the 

 town ; but in some places the comers of the streets were so 

 narrow that it was with the utmost difficulty that my chair 

 could be coaxed round, and then only by a series of in- 

 genious manoeuvres. 



Mbang-ka derives considerable importance from the fact 

 that large junks can come up thus far ; and one arm of the 

 river, which again divides just above, flows from San-kop- 

 yung, the district which produces large quantities of cam- 

 phor; and here the junks are loaded with that important 

 and valuable commodity, the source of which is the laurel 

 (Laurus camphora). But the camphor trade is at present 

 of little value to any one, except to those to whom the 

 monopoly is granted by the Chinese Government. The 

 camphor mandarin, as he is termed, who enjoys this mono- 

 poly, pays 40,000 dollars per annum into the imperial chest 

 for his privilege, and having obtained the camphor at the 

 rate of about five dollars per picul of 133^ lbs., he can then 



