40 THE CAMPHOR LANGUAGE OF JOHORE. 



The Jakuns believe that there is a " bisan," or spirit, which 

 presides over the camphor trees and without propitiating- this 

 spirit it is impossible to obtain the camphor. This "bisan" 

 makes at night a shrill noise, and when this sound is heard it 

 is a sure sig-n that there are camphor trees near at hand. (This 

 " bisan " is really one of the Cicadas which are so numerous in 

 the Malayan jungles). 



AVhen hunting- for camphor the natives always throw a 

 portion of their food out into the jungle before eating as an offer- 

 ing to the " bisan" 



No prayers are offered up, but all food must be eaten dry, 

 i. e., without sumbul, or stewed fish, or vegetables. Salt must not 

 be pounded fine ; if it is eaten fine the camphor when found 

 will be in fine grains ; but if eaten coarse the grains of cam- 

 phor will be large. In rainy weather the crv of the ' bisan ' is 

 not heard. At certain seasons regular parties of Jakuns, and 

 sometimes Malays, go into the jungle to search for camphor and 

 they remain there as long as three or four months at a time. 

 Not only must the men who go into the jungle to search for the 

 camphor speak the '• Pantang Kapur," but also the men and 

 women left at home in the Kampongs. 



The camphor occurs in the form of small grains deposited in 

 the cracks in the interior of the trunk of the tree. 

 Camphor is only found in the older trees, and not in all of these, 

 and to obtain it the tree must be cut down and split up. There 

 are certain signs which indicate when a tree contains camphor, 

 one of which is the smell emitted from the wood when chipped. 

 A man who is skilled in detecting the presence of camphor is 

 called Penghulu Kapur. The camphor when taken away from 

 the tree is washed and all chips of wood and dirt carefully re- 

 moved and it is then sold to Chinese traders at Kwala Indau at 

 prices varying according to the quality from $15 to |4:0 per katti. 



The Camphor language consists in great part of words 

 which are either Malay or of Malay origin, but contains, as above 

 mentioned, a large number of words which are not Malay but 

 which are presumably remnants of the original Jakun dialects 

 which are apparently almost obsolete otherwise in the Indau and 

 Sembrong districts of Johor. 



H. L. and H. J. K. 



