DRYOBALANOPS CAMPHORA. 
243 
of this kind occurs when the roots are left undisturbed the whole summer ; for, 
being fleshy, the worms and various insects are attracted to them, which gnaw and 
separate the digitals, if they do not destroy the roots. There would, however, be 
no chance of the plants living long in a cold adhesive soil where worms do not 
abound. 
DRYOBALANOPS CAMPHORA. 
Camphor is extracted from the Laurus Camphora , with the aid of heat; but 
the natural camphor, in substance and of the greatest value, is furnished by this 
tree. Some of the trees are six or seven feet in diameter, but it will produce cam- 
phor at a much earlier period when the tree does not exceed two or two feet and a 
half in diameter. The same tree which yields oil would have produced camphor, if 
unmolested : the former being supposed to be the first stage of the latter 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 reason for their judg- 
ment beyond favourable dreams, which superstition has rendered infallible : but it 
must be admitted that this description of people succeed better than others who go 
in search of camphor. 
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 
Malay axe in the tree, about eighteen inches from the ground, till near the heart, 
when a deeper incision is made, with a small aperture, and the oil, if any in the tree, 
gushes out and is received into bamboos, or any other utensil. In this manner a 
party proceeds through the woods, wounding the camphor trees till they attain 
their object. The camphor is pretty nearly obtained the same way. 
The trees are cut to the heart about the same height from the ground as in 
the former instance, till the camphor is seen : hundreds may be thus mutilated 
before the sought-for tree is discovered. When attained, it is felled, and cut into 
junks of a fathom long, which are again split, and the camphor is found in the 
heart, occupying a space in circumference of the thickness of a man’s arm. The 
produce of a middle-sized tree is about eleven pounds, and of a large one double 
that quantity. The camphor thus found is called Se Tantong. 
It is often the case that the trees which have been thus cut, and left standing, 
produce camphor which is distinguished by the name of Oogar, but is inferior ifi 
appearance to the first, though of the same quality. The sorts of camphor called 
belly and foot are the scrapings of the wood which surrounds it. The camphor 
obtained from this tree is much more pure than that obtained from any other plant. 
— Dons Mill. Gard. Diet. 
