Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra25271894roya).pdf/257

 (Clusius appends a note to this saying, "Copies of the last edition do not give Alcuz, but Alkansuri and Ariagie, then Alezeid and Alescek." Alkansuri is evidently the kansur alluded to above. And what Serapion says came from the region of Calca is corrupt, and he should have said from Malacca, since it is produced in Bairros, near Malacca.)

"Camphor is a gum (not the pith or heart of wood, as Avicenna and some others think) which falling into the pithchamber [sic] of the wood is extracted thence or exudes from the cracks. This I saw in a table of Camphor wood at a certain Apothecary's, and in a piece of wood as thick as the thigh presented to me by Governor John Crasto, and again in a tablet a span broad at a Merchant's. I would not, however, deny that it may sometimes be deposited in the hollow of a tree. It is told me as a fact that it is the custom that when any one who goes out to collect it has filled his gourd, if any other stronger person sees him with the gourd, he can kill him with impunity and take away the gourd, fortune assisting him in this. That which is brought from Borneo is usually mixed with small bits of stone or some kind of gum called Chamderros, much like raw sugar or saw-dust. But this defect is easily detected; I know no other method of adulteration. For if sometimes it is seen to be spotted with red or blackish dots, that is due to treatment with dirty or impure hands or they may be caused by moisture. But this defect is easily remedied by the Indians. If it is tied up in a cloth and dipped in warm water to which soap and lime-juice has been added and then carefully dried in the shade it becomes very white, the weight not being altered. I saw this done by a Hindu friend who intrusted me with the secret. * * * * What they say as to all kinds of animals flying together to its shade to escape the fiercer beasts is fabulous. Nor is it what some, following Serapion, write less so, namely, that it is an omen of larger yields when the sky glitters with frequent lightning or echoes with constant thunder. For as the island of Sumatra, which some think to be Taprobane, and the adjacent regions are near the equinoctial line, it follows that they are subject to constant thunderstorms and for the same cause have storms or slight showers every day; so camphor ought to be abundant every year. From which it is clear that the thunder is neither the cause nor indication of a larger supply of camphor.