6i 



sula in two spots on the river Indau, in Johore, and at Rawang in 

 Selangor. It is also met with in Sumatra, Lingga and Borneo. It 

 occurs in forests almost entirely composed of this tree and its seed- 

 lings, to the exclusion of other trees. The plants growing very 

 close together and forming a dense jungle. The tree grows to a 

 height of about 150 feet, and are three or four feet in diameter, 

 with a straight stem bare of boughs for about eighty feet, at the base 

 buttresses are thrown out but of no great size. The bark is rather 

 thick grey and covered with thin long flakes. It is about half an 

 inch thick, the inner bark reddish and the cambium layer yellowish 

 brown with a turpentine smell when cut. The leaves are ovate 

 coriaceous with a long point. 



The timber of Camphor wood is of first class quality. There is 

 not much sapwood in large trees. The heart-wood is deep red 

 heavy and close in texture, the pores moderately large, the rays 

 very numerous and thin. It darkens with age and possesses a 

 strong turpentine odour, due to the oil of Camphor inclosed in the 

 resin ducts. When polished it resembles Mahogany. It is very 

 durable and fallen trees in the jungle remain sound though the 

 sapwood is rotted away for a considerable period. Weight 43 lbs. 

 8 ozs. to 5 1 lbs. 4 ozs. 



Laslett (Timbers and Timber trees p. 138) says it is moder- 

 ately hard and tough. Its defects are a sponginess about the 

 concentric layers combined with the prevalence of a star shake 

 very detrimental to the quality and usefulness of it. 



Oil of Camphor is obtained by cutting holes in the tree as des- 

 cribed for the wood oils [Dipterocarpus). And also is found 

 sometimes in hollows in the trunk. Motley obtained in a tree in 

 Labuan which was cut down rive gallons of oil in a single hollow, 

 and much was lost beside. It may also be obtained by distillation, 

 the wood is cut into chips and put into water which is then heated, 

 the oil coming over in the steam. The Malays value Camphor oil 

 verv hiohly, using it in medecine. 



The Camphor is found in fissures of the wood in a crystalline 

 form, Spenser St. John, in Life in the Forest of the Far East 

 states, that the finest is often found in decaying trees. In some 

 timber brought to Singapore in 1896, I found that Camphor crystals 

 were formed in small holes in the wood, after it had been left for 

 some time, but attempts to obtain solid Camphor from the timber 

 artificially have as yet proved unsuccessful. Further attempts may 

 prove successful and experiments may well be made in this matter 

 as this Camphor is valued at about 80 or 90 shillings a pound. Its 

 use is almost exclusively confined to China, Cochin-China and 

 Siam, being too expensive for the European markets. It is harder 

 and less volatile than common camphor. 



The cultivation of this superb tree would be well worth under- 

 taking if for its timber alone. It is apparently of slow growth like 

 other hardwood trees, but it could be easily propagated by seed, 

 or the young overcrowded seedlings in the Camphor woods could 

 be transferred to localities where they might have more space- 

 to grow in. 



