266 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VOL. I. 
Dr. Henry, a letter from whose pen, giving a detailed description of the 
process employed by the Chinese for the extraction of Ngai camphor, has 
been placed under liberal quotation further below : — “ From this is pro- 
duced in Kwangtung and Hainan the peculiar camphor known to the 
Chinese as ngai-fen, signifying the crude product, and ngai-p’-ien, the 
name given to the refined article. The export from the port of Hoihow 
in Hainan of the crude camphor is about 15,000 lbs. annually. This is 
refined in Canton, from which there is an annual export of about 10,000 
lbs. of ngai-'p' -ien. Hanbury {Science Notes, page 394) gives an account 
of the camphor, and mentions that the plant in question is well known 
to emit when bruised a strong odour of camphor, and that in Burma a 
crude camphor is extracted from it.” 
The Chinese engaged in the camphor industry, it is said, jealously 
guard as a secret the name of the camphor -yielding tree and also the pro- 
cess which they employ for the distillation of camphor. Mr. Gilman, 
a member of the American Presbyterian Mission, who was stationed in 
Kiungchow, the capital of Hainan, about the year 1892, was, however, 
able during his missionary journeys thi’ough the country to make careful 
enquiries into the. details of the manufacturing process and to see for him- 
self the natives extracting the article. His account of the process is 
given in the following extracts from Dr. Henry’s letterl to the authorities 
of the Kew Royal Gardens, which has been referred to above : — 
“ ‘Some time ago Mr. Ridley, of Singapore, asked me to find out the de- 
tails of the process, employed by the Chinese in Hainan, for the extrac- 
tion of Ai camphor from Blumea halsamifera D.C. He had tried to 
obtain the camphor by distillation from the leaves of the plant, but had 
only succeeded in getting an oil. Through the kind ofiices of Mr. Unwin 
of the Chinese Customs at Hoihow, I have received the following in- 
teresting account of the process from the Rev. F. P. Gilman, and I send 
it to you for insertion in the Kew Bulletin 
“ ‘ The plant is in flower in July and August. During the fall and 
winter months the Chinese of the island or the aboriginal Ijois in Chinese 
employ collect the young leaves of the plant, which there grows to a 
height of 8 or 10 feet. They say they only take the last three joints of 
the branch, as in the specimens which I have collected. These leaves 
are allowed to remain on the branch, and are wilted for a couple of days. 
They are then placed in the retort, which is a cask about two feet high, 
open at both ends, and of a diameter suitable to place it over a large 
1 Published in Kew Bulletin, No. 107, November 1895, pp. 275 — 276. 
