130 
LAUREL. 
In China they call the camphor tree tchang , and 
the camphor tchcing-nao. To extract the camphor, 
they take the green branches of this tree and cut 
them into little bits, which they steep for three 
days in well-water. After the cuttings have been 
thus macerated, they are put into a kettle and 
boiled, during which process they incessantly stir 
the liquor with a willow stick. When the juice 
from the wood adheres in a quantity to the stick, 
in the form of a white jelly, it is time to strain 
it : having done this, and separated all the dirt 
and impurities, they pour the juice into a glazed 
earthen pan, where it is left all night, and the 
next day they find it coagulated and formed into a 
mass. 
In this state the camphor is of a bad colour, and 
requires to be purified before it is fit for sale. To 
accomplish this purpose they provide a spacious 
copper bason, at the bottom of which they put some 
hard powdered substance, such as the rubbish of an 
old wall ground very fine ; upon this they put a 
layer of camphor, covering it with some of the same 
substance, then another layer of camphor, and so 
on till the fourth layer of this gum resin has been 
covered with the powdered substance. The pro- 
cess being conducted thus far, they lay on the top 
of all a quantity of the leaves of the plant po-ho, or 
pennyroyal, and close the whole with a copper cap 
which is luted to the bason with yellow ochre. A 
fire is then lighted under the vessel, and care taken 
to manage it so that the heat shall be as regular as 
