6 1 
sula in two spots on the river Indau, in Johore, and at Ravvang in 
Selangor. It is also met with in Sumatra, Iingga and Borneo. It 
occurs in forests almost entirely composed of this tree and its seed- 
lings, to the exclusion of other trees. The plants growing very 
close together and forming a dense jungle. The tree grows to a 
height of about 150 feet, and are three or four feet in diameter, 
with a straight stem bare of boughs for about eighty feet, at the base 
buttresses are thrown out but of no great size. The bark is rather 
thick grey and covered with thin long flakes. It is about half an 
inch thick, the inner bark reddish and the cambium layer yellowish 
brown with a turpentine smell when cut. The leaves are ovate 
coriaceous with a long point. 
The timber of Camphor wood is of first class quality. There is 
not much sapvvood in large trees. The heart-wood is deep red 
heavy and close in texture, the pores moderately large, the rays 
very numerous and thin. It darkens with age and possesses a 
strong turpentine odour, due to the oil of Camphor inolosed in the 
resin ducts. When polished it resembles Mahogany. It is very 
durable and fallen trees in the jungle remain sound though the 
sapwood is rotted away for a considerable period. Weight 43 lbs. 
8 ozs. to 5 1 lbs. 4 ozs. 
Laslett (Timbers and Timber trees p. 138) says it is moder- 
ately hard and tough. Its defects are a sponginess about the 
concentric layers combined with the prevalence of a star shake 
very detrimental to the quality and usefulness of it. 
Oil of Camphor is obtained by cutting holes in the tree as des- 
cribed for the wood oils ( Dipteroccu'pus ). And also is found 
sometimes in hollows in the trunk. Motley obtained in a tree in 
Labuan which was cut down five gallons of oil in a single hollow, 
and much was lost beside. It may also be obtained by distillation, 
the wood is cut into chips and put into water which is then heated, 
the oil coming over in the steam. The Malays value Camphor oil 
very highly, using it in medecine. 
The Camphor is found in fissures of the wood in a crystalline 
form, Spenser St. John, in Life in the Forest of the Far East 
states, that the finest is often found in decaying trees. In some 
timber brought to Singapore in 1896, I found that Camphor crystals 
were formed in small holes in the wood, after it had been left for 
some time, but attempts to obtain solid Camphor from the timber 
artificially have as yet proved unsuccessful. Further attempts may 
prove successful and experiments may well be made in this matter 
as this Camphor is valued at about 80 or go shillings a pound. Its 
use is almost exclusively confined to China, Cochin-China and 
Siam, being too expensive for the European markets. It is harder 
and less volatile than common camphor. 
The cultivation of this superb tree would be well worth under- 
taking if for its timber alone. It is apparently of slow growth like 
other hardwood trees, but it could be easily propagated by seed, 
or the young overcrowded seedlings in the Camphor woods could 
be transferred to localities where they might have more space 
to grow in, 
