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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



IN MANY DISTRICTS CAMPHOR WORKERS REQUIRE THE PROTECTION OE 



ARMED GUARDS 



Talcs of the camphor workers recall the days of our pioneer fathers, who constantly faced 

 the dangers of tomahawk and scalping-knife. 



large tracts of land are given over to the 

 cultivation of the camphor laurel. The 

 oldest of these cultivated trees are now 

 twenty years of age, and these, I am in- 

 formed, are to be cut down next year. 



Paradoxical as it may seem at first 

 glance, the savage head-hunters of For- 

 mosa have been both an impediment and 

 a boon to the camphor industry. 



As the forests are cut down, the head- 



hunters have to be driven further back 

 into the mountains. These expeditions 

 against the savages are never very suc- 

 cessful, encountering as they do heavy 

 obstacles in the way of dense forests, 

 rapid streams without bridges, steep 

 mountains without trails, and, above all, 

 the danger of sudden attack. 



The life of a camphor worker is in- 

 deed an adventurous one ; he is never 



