THE CAMPHOR LANGUAGE OF JOHORE. 39 



A very small percentag-o of camphor trees contain any cam- 

 phor. The hunters first test the tree by making a deep cut in 

 the bark if there is a faint odour of camphor the tree is cut down 

 and thoroughly examined but not otherwise. 



H. N. R. 



The Camphor Language of Johore. 



The chief interest attaching- to the Kapur Barus in Johor 

 lies in the superstitions connected with the collection of the cam- 

 phor by the natives or orang- Hulu (Jakuns of the Malays). 



Among-st these superstitions the most important is the use of 

 a special languag-e, the subject of the present paper, which has 

 been the means of preserving- some remnants of the aboriginal 

 dialects of this part of the Malay Peninsula. This language is 

 called by the orang Hulu " Pantang Kapur," " Pantang " means 

 forbidden or tabooed, and in this case refers to the fact 

 that in searching for the camphor the use of the ordinary Malay 

 language is " pantang," or forbidden. In addition to this there 

 are restriction as to food, etc.. 



This Camphor language is first referred to by Mr. Logan 

 in his account of the aboriginal tribes of the Malay Peninsula 

 (I. A. Journal, vol. 1, p, 293) and he gives a list of eighty 

 words, thirty-three of which are Malay or derived from Malay. 



In No 1 of this journal will be found some notes on the 

 same subject by Miklucho-Macklay, and in No 3 Mr. Hervey, 

 in an account of his trip to Gunong Blumut, refers to the same 

 subject and gives a list of words collected by him which he 

 compares with Mr. Logan's list. In No 8 of this journal 

 Mr. Hervey, in his account of a trip up the Indau and its tribu- 

 taries, again refers to the camphor language and discusses its 

 connection with the aboriginal dialects of the Malay Peninsula, 



