167 
FORMOSA CAMPHOR. 
Camphor is the chief export from Tamsing, but the trade in the drug is 
still hampered by a monopoly which is not only against the treaty but 
is clearly unfair to individual merchants. In 1864 the monopoly was 
apportioned out among there firms, four months to each. The amount 
incurred by the holder of such monopoly is about 200 dollars a day, 
125 of which goes to the Taotse or superintendent. The current rate 
of camphor was fifteen dollars a picul, and the rate it was offered at in 
Taiwan was 13 dollars, so that was quite a losing game with the present 
holders of the monopoly, though the Taotse derives his profits therefrom 
the same as usual. The Taotse, on behalf of the Government, lays 
claim to all the timber of the island adapted for naval purposes, or in 
other words, the camphor wood only ; for no steps are taken to prevent 
the settlers in the bush from cutting down other wood for domestic use 
or for charring into charcoal. Were the injunctions issued with a view 
to preserve the wood which is daily being cut away without any 
attempts to replant it for future use, the measure might be applauded as 
a beneficial one, and one that ought to have been enforced in many 
parts of China and India, where the want of firewood is daily making 
itself more felt ; but it refers unquestionably to camphor alone. The 
fine camphor trees thus destroyed it will take scores of years to replace ; 
and as, from the peculiar character of their large outspreading growth, 
they only occur at widely scattered intervals, the time may not be 
distant when the chief source of profit from this locality will be 
reckoned as one of the things of the past. As it now stands, the 
Government have doubtless the title over all the jungly land of the 
Colony, and they may be right in restricting the privilege of demolish- 
ing the finest timber to one party for a valuable equivalent. A great 
deal of secret destruction of timber is always going on, and were it not 
for the vigilance of the mandarins and of the parties concerned, the 
annihilation of these trees on the hills would be doubtless brought about 
in a speedier manner. The tree appears only to flourish in the Tamsing 
and Komolar Department, it having some time since disappeared from 
mountains of the southern department accessible to the Chinese settler. 
The exports of camphor from Taiwan in 1863 were by 
dollars. 
British vessels, 13,670 piculs, val. . . . 205,050 
Foreign vessels, 90,482 catties .... 1,176,266 
In 1864, the exports were 10,594 cwt,, valued at 26,629Z., of whic 
20,803 cwt. were shipped in British vessels. 
VOL. VI. 
