32 
NOTE  ON  FORMOSA  CAMPHOR. 
occasioned  the  price  of  the  article  in  Hongkong  to  increase  con- 
siderably in  value,  and  to  make  the  profits  accruing  to  the  for- 
tunate monopolist  almost  fabulous.  The  cost  of  the  drug,  I 
learn,  amounts  to  only  six  dollars  at  its  place  of  manufacture. 
The  monopolist  buys  it  from  the  Mandarin  at  16  dollars  the  pe- 
cul,  and  sells  it  in  Hongkong  at  28  dollars.  The  gigantic 
laurel  (Laurus  Camphor  a)  that  yields  the  camphor,  covers  the 
whole  line  of  high  mountains  extending  north  and  south  through- 
out Formosa.  But  as  the  greater  part  of  this  range  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  aborigines,  the  Chinese  are  able  to  gain  access  only 
to  those  parts  of  the  mountains  contiguous  to  their  own  territo- 
ries that  are  possessed  by  the  more  docile  tribes.  The  trees,  as 
they  are  required,  are  selected  for  the  abundance  of  their  sap, 
as  many  are  too  dry  to  repay  the  labor  and  trouble  of  the  un- 
dertaking. A  present  is  then  made  to  the  chief  of  the  tribe  to 
gain  permission  to  cut  down  the  selected  trees.  The  best  part 
of  the  tree  is  secured  for  timber,  and  the  refuse  cut  up  into  chips. 
The  chips  are  boiled  in  iron  pots,  one  inverted  on  another,  and 
the  sublimated  vapor  is  the  desired  result.  The  camphor  is  then 
conveyed  down  in  carts  of  rude  construction,  and  stowed  in 
large  vats,  with  escape-holes  at  the  bottom,  whence  exudes  an 
oil,  known  as  camphor-oil,  and  used  by  Chinese  practitioners  for 
its  medicinal  properties  in  rheumatic  diseases.  Samples  of  this 
oil  have  been  sent  home,  and  it  may  eventually  become  a  de- 
sideratum in  Europe.  From  the  vats  the  camphor  is  stowed  in 
bags  to  contain  about  a  pecul  each,  and  is  thus  exported.  The 
Chinese  government  has  empowered  the  Formosan  authorities 
to  claim  on  its  account  all  the  timber  produced  by  the  island  for 
ship-building  purposes ;  and  it  is  on  this  plea  the  Taotai  appro- 
priates the  prescriptive  right  of  dealing  in  camphor.  About 
6000  peculs  of  the  drug  are  annually  produced  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Tamsuy. — Pharm.  Journ.,  London,  Dec,  1863,  Ex- 
tracted from  Paper  read  before  the  British  Association  at  New- 
castle* 
