THE CAMPnOR^TREE. 



433 



from the rock Tliat place is in tlie mountains west 

 of Eau. 



March Early this moniing contiiiued on 



for Siboga, ^vith the satisfactory feeling that this day 

 would be the last of our long and difficult journey. 

 The road for ten miles led through a deep forest of 

 gigantic camphor-treeSj Dryohalmwps €a?npIio?% the 

 tall, straight trunks of which rose up like lofty coL 

 omng. From their high branches hung down hun- 

 dreds of the cord-like roots of a parasite. The " cam- 

 phor-oil " is obtained from these trees by making a - 

 small cavity in the tnmk near the gi'ound, and the 

 fluid dripping into this cavity is the olL" After 

 a tree has been dead for a long time, it is cut 

 down and split up, and layers of pure camphor are 

 found crystallized in thin plates in the fissures, where 

 the wood in dying has slightly split open. This is 

 known as camphor baras/' from Bams, a village on 

 the coast a short distance to the north, because such 

 crystallized camphor was formerly expoi-ted from that 

 place. The Chinese and Japanese, who suppose it 

 possesses the most extravagant healing properties, 

 pay enormous prices for it, while, except that it is 

 somewhat purer, it is probably not any better than 

 that they make themselves by distillation from the 

 wood of the Oimia'imm camiyhora. The camphor- 

 tree is not only valuable for the camphor it yields, 

 but also for its timber, which is very straight and 

 free from knots and other imperfections. This is a 

 favorite region for tigers, and I have seen one or 

 more skins at the house of each official. A short 

 time since, an elephant came down here from the in- 



28 



