216 



Descriptions of Malayan Plants. 



For the natural affinities and a more detailed account of 

 the method of procuring the Camphor,* I may refer to the 

 able paper already quoted. It belongs to the same natural 

 family with Dipterocarpus, Shorea, &c. 



* The following particulars concerning the extraction of the Camphor, 

 were communicated by Mr. Prince, Resident at Tapanooly, to Dr. Rox- 

 burgh, and are extracted from the 12th vol. of the Asiatic Researches 

 above referred to : — 



" This tree grows spontaneously in the forests ; and is to be found in 

 abundance from the back of Ayer Bongey, as far north as Bacongan, 

 a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. It may be classed among the 

 tallest and largest trees that grow on this coast ; several within daily 

 view measuring six or seven feet diameter. Before it acquires such 

 dimensions, its age is conjectured to be very considerable; but it will 

 produce Camphor at a much earlier period, when the tree does not 

 exceed two and two feet and a half in diameter. The same tree 

 which yields the Oil would have afforded Camphor, if unmolested ; the 

 former being supposed to be the first stage of the latter's forming, and 

 is consequently found in younger trees. The natives have no certain 

 means of ascertaining the tree which produces either the one or the other ; 

 although there are some men, styled Toongoo Nyr Cappoor, who pretend 

 to that knowledge ; but they cannot give any reasons for their judg- 

 ment, beyond favourable dreams which superstition has rendered infal- 

 lible : and it must be admitted that the success of this description of 

 people, in discovering and procuring, is greater than the majority of 

 those who go in search of the Camphor ; the distinction may have arisen 

 from the peculiar favour of fortune to some individuals over others, 

 as in most other circumstances of life, from whence they have acquired 

 a celebrity, otherwise they could give some rational explanation of 

 their superior success. Both Oil and Camphor are found in the heart 

 of the tree, occupying a vacuum which, in others is frequently filled with 

 pitch ; but it does not extend to the whole length ; on the contrary, 

 they are found in small portions, of a foot, and a foot and a half long, 

 at certain distances. The method of extracting the Oil is merely by 

 making a deep incision with a hiliong or Malay axe, in the tree, about 

 fourteen or eighteen feet from the ground, till near the heart, where a 

 deeper incision is made with a small aperture; and the Oil, if any 

 in the tree, immediately gushes out, and is received in bamboos, or any 



