ON THE CAMPHOR-TREE OF SUMATRA. 
331 
in which the juice accumulates, which, gradually coagulating, 
slicks to the wood in the form of small pieces of camphor. 
" If those who have the care of the Camphor-trees, perceive 
that in some of the trees there is camphor, (which they pretend to 
discover by some signs known to them,) they order the trees to be 
cut down, strip them of their leaves and bark, and cut away the 
outer wood to the marrow'or heart, in which are the apertures or 
fissures ; they cut that wood into small pieces, and therein the 
camphor is found, beautifully brilliant. They have a method of 
scraping it from the wood with small instruments ; and alter 
purifying the scraped-off camphor (^camphora abrasa) they sel- 
dom obtain more than from two to three pounds. Of that, one- 
twentieth is generally paid as a tribute; the rest remains in their 
possession. 
44 Camphor-oil, the peculiar juice of the tree, exudes from its 
fissures and cavities, and is carefully collected. The oil is so 
fine, that a paper penetrated by it and held near a flame, catches 
fire immediately and burns till all the oil is consumed. Oct. 2, 
1680." * 
We must not omit to mention that Valentynf has given a 
drawing of the leaves of the Camphor-tree of Baros, which agrees 
very well with the objects before us, so that we do not doubt that 
Arent Sylvius, from whose accounts this chapter is written by 
Valentyn, really knew the tree, and in what respects it differs 
from that of Japan. 
I would recommend further the notices given of this tree by 
Breyne,J Grimm, § Rumphius, || Miller,1T Adolph EscheJskroon,** 
* Valentini, India Literata, seu dissertationes epistolicce de plantis, &c, p. 
488. Francof, 1716, ful. 
-j-Mich. Bern. Valentini, Hist. Simpl. Reformata, lib. ii. sect, iv., p. 250. 
^Prodr. fasc. PL rar. 1680. 
§ Obs. deArb. Camphorce,in Miscell. Cur. sive. Ephem. Nat. Curios., 1783, 
p. 371, tab. c. f. 33. 
|| Herb. Amb. Auct., cap. Ixxxii., p. 67. 1755. 
^[Extracts from several letters from Mr. Charles Miller, giving some 
account of the interior parts of Sumatra. — Phil. Trans., vol. lxviii, p. 161, 
170. 1778. 
** Beschr. van Sumatra, insonderheid van desselfs Koophandel. Door Ad 
Eschelskroon, p. 61, 63. 1783. 
