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194 CAMPHOR. ir,l
forms lumps, which are called «collected camphor» (^ JJ^);
it is used for
women's head ornaments and the like purposes*. There is furthermore an
oily sort of camphor called «camphor oil» (Jgg y^), which is of a strong and
pungent aroma; it answers for moistening incense, or mixing with oil *.
. Notes. 5
1) Fo-ni and P'o-ni, both pronounced in Cantonese Fat-ni and Put-ni, transcribe respectively
Brni, Borneo, and apply more particularly to the west coast of that island. See supra, pp. 155, 156.
Pin-su, in Cantonese Pan-ts'iit, the latter form representing the sound Pansor, is the Pansur or
Fansur of mediaeval Arab and vrestern writers, the Barus of later writers. Barus is the name of
the principal mart of this commodity in Sumatra, and the word has been affixed by traders to 10
discriminate it from the camphor of Japan. See Reinaud, Relations, I, 7, Masudi, Prairies d'or,
, I, 338, Ibn Batuta, Voyages, IV, 241, and especially Yule, Marco Polo, II, 282, 285—288. Also
Crawfurd, Hist. Malay Archipelago, I, 515—517.
Liang-shu, 54,i4% mentions among the products of Lang-ya-siu (3& ^' Vm} (which
may be Tennasserim or the Kra district on the Msilay Vemnsuls!) p o-lit-Mang (^^ :ffi' .S>), t5
and T'ang-pon-ts'au (Pon-ts'au-kang-mu, 84,56) says that «in olden times p'o-lu-hiartg came from
P'o-liis. We are inclined, however, to believe that^ o-Zit is a truncated transcription of Sanskrit Jcarpura,
and does not represent Barus, as Gerini (Researches, 427) and Pelliot (B. E. F. E.G., IV
341) are disposed to think. Hiian-tsang, Si-yu-ki, 10, speaks of Me-pu-lo (^^ 'f|j -^i) as a
product of Madura.
Yu-yang-tsa-tsu, 18,7*, says nThe tree which produces the alung-nau perfumes (Ȥ H^
20
^^ j comes from P o-li [-^' y^\\ Perak, or thereabout), where it is called hu-pu-p' o-lii
( fffj '^ "i^- ffi" Icapur). It also comes from Po-ssi (Persia, i. e., it was brought to China
by Persian ships). The tree is from eighty to ninety feet high, and some six or seven (feet) in
circumference. The leaves are round and white on the back. It has no flowers. The tree is either 25-
«fat» (J52) *"' "^6an» (^^)- Lean trees produce t\6 p o-lu-Ttau (or tibalm» >M^). One authority
says that lean trees produce lung-nau (our abaroos camphor))), and the fat ones p'o-lii-kau
(camphor balm). If one cuts into the heart of the tree and splits it open, the oil (lit. grease) flows
out freely from the butt (i^)- The drug can be got also by chopping up the wood and putting
thepiecesinapit. There are other methods of extracting it». Conf. Marsden's remarks in note 2. 30'
2) Marsden, History of Sumatra, 121, says: nThe natives, from long experience, know
whether any (camphor) is contained within, by striking it (i. e., the tree) with a stick. In that case,
they cut it down and split it with wedges into small pieces, finding the camphire in the interstices in
the state of a concrete crystallization. Some have asserted that it is from the old trees alone that
this substance is procured, and that in the young trees it is in a fluid state, callei meeniacapoor, 3S
or camphire oil; but this, I have good authority to pronounce a mistake. The same kind of tree
that produces the fluid, does not produce the dry, transparent, and flaky substance, nor ever
would .... The traders distinguish usually three difi'erent degrees of quality in it, by the names
of head, belly and foot, according to its purity and whiteness, which depend upon its being more
or less free from particles of the wood, and other heterogeneous matter, that mix with it in 40
collecting, after the first large pieces are picked out. Some add a fourth sort, of extraordinary
fineness, of which a few pounds only are imported to Canton in the year, and sell there at the
rate of two thousand dollars the pccula.
3) In a previous passage (supra, p. 156), our author mentions four varieties of camphor as
coming from Borneo; one of these he calls su-nau; it may be the same as the ts'ang-nau here 45-
mentioned. See Gerini, Researches, 432 et seqq.
Yu-yang-tsa-tsu, 1,8% mentions some extraordinarily fragrant camphor which was brought to
the Emperor of China Huan-tsung (in A. D. 756) as tribute from Kiau-chi or Tongking. It was
called lau-lung-nau (^ ^| |§), and also, a^v^Tentlj, jui-lung-nau ('^ ^| HS). This