THE BINUA OF JOHORE-’ 
‘263 
ties than the maximum I have noticed the taban at some length be¬ 
cause an interest attaches to it at present, and because nearly the 
whole Binua people for some time past have been withdrawn by it 
from their usual pursuits. They are not under any apprehension that 
it will be extirpated, and smiled at my ignorance on suggesting the 
probability of its being so. It is only trees arrived at their full growth, 
or at least at a very considerable age, that repay the labour of felling 
them and extracting the gitta, and those of all inferiour ages which 
they are compelled to leave, will keep up the race. 1 hey are no 
doubt in so far correct, but the effect of thinning the tabans at the 
present rate is to reduce the annual supply of seed and young plants. 
The seeds are eaten by the Binua, but they do not, like the Malays in 
some countries, as at Siak, extract an edible vegetable tallow from 
them. 
It is unnecessaiy to speak of the modes in which the other articles 
of traffic yielded by the jungle are procured, because I did not learn 
that they differed in any respect from those adopted by the Malays. 
I may here mention however that both people have very superstitious 
ideas regarding the collection of camphor. While searching for it 
they abstain from certain kinds of food, eat a little earth and use a 
kind of artificial language called the bassa kapor (camphor language.) 
This I found to be the same on the Si'dflf, the Inddu and the Batu 
P&hat. From the subjoined specimens it will be seen that most of 
the words are formed on the Malayan, and in many cases by merely 
substituting for the common name one derived from some quality of 
the object, as “grass fruit” for rice, “far sounding” for gun, “ short 
legged” for hog, “leaves” for hair &e. 
The Camphor Language. 
Words not Malayan , 
Wood 
Chud 
Stone 
eho’ot 
Rattan 
urat 
Rain 
kumdh 
River 
simphi 
Clouds 
paeham tatengel 
Iron 
chaot 
Deer 
sab aim 
Do. kijang 
sungong 
Hog 
sdmungko 
Tw 
sUigimu 
