ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

S U M A T R A . 123
though doubtless from its volatility it muff be fubjecT; to fome decreafe,
does not appear to lofe much in quantity from being kept, as I have
particular experience of. What I had of the Chinefe fort is long fincc
evaporated. I know not what fuperiority in the materia medica, is allowed
to the cafcor harroos, in point of efficacy: it is poffibly considerable,
though certainly not in the proportion of fifty to one. Perhaps it may
not have had a fair trial, being rarely brought to Europe but as a curiofity.
The camphire oil before mentioned, is a valuable domeftic medicine,
and much ufed by the Sumatrans, inftrains, fwellings, and inflammations,
the particles, from their extreme fubtilty, readily entering the pores. It
is not manufactured, undergoes no preparation, and though termed an
oil, is rather a liquid and volatile refin, diftilling from one fpecies of
the camphire tree, without any oleaginous quality. To procure it, they
proceed in the following manner. They make a tranfverfe incifion into
the tree, to the depth of fome inches, and then cut iloping downwards
from above the notch, till they leave a flat, horizontal fuperficies. This
they hollow out, till it is of a capacity to receive about a quart. They then
put into the hollow, a bit of lighted reed, and let it remain for about
ten minutes, which acting as a ftimulus, draws the fluid to that part.
In the fpace of a night, the liquor fills the receptacle prepared for it,
and the tree continues to yield a lefler quantity, for three fucceffive
nights, when fire muft be again applied; but on a few repetitions it is
exhaufted. An oil not much unlike that from the camphire, is procured
from another tree, by the fame method. It is called meenia cayoo or wood
oil, and is ufed to rub on timber expofed to the weather, to preferve it
from decay; and it is alfo boiled with the dammar to pay the bottoms
of ihips and boats.
_. , c Benjamin»
Benjamin or benzoin (caminyaii), called a gum, though from it's folubility
in fpirits it would leem more properly a refin, is produced from
a tree which grows in great abundance in the northern parts of the
ifland, particularly in the Batta country, and met with, though.
rarely