Page:The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London. Volume 34, 1864. (IA s572id13663720).pdf/219

Rh and carried to Hong-Kong for shipment to Calcutta, at which place it finds the readiest market, being used by the natives of Hindostan for lubricating the body and other domestic purposes. But now its monopoly is so closely watched that almost the entire trade in it falls to the lucky individual whose Chinese agents can secure for him the monopoly. This bad system has occasioned the price of the article in Hong-Kong to increase considerably, and made the profits accruing to the fortunate monopolist almost fabulous. The cost of the drug, I learn, amounts to only 6 dollars the picul at its place of manufacture. The monopolist buys it from the mandarin at 16 dollars, and sells it in Hong-Kong at 28 dollars. The gigantic laurel (Laurus camphora) that yields the camphor covers the whole line of high mountains extending north and south throughout 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 territories, that are possessed by the more docile tribes. The trees, as they are required, are selected for the abundance of their sap, many being too dry to repay the labour and trouble of the undertaking. 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 over another, and the sublimated vapour yields 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 an article of importance in Europe. From the vats the camphor is stowed in bags to contain about a picul 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 appropriated the prescriptive right of dealing in camphor. About 6000 piculs of the drug are annually produced in the neighbourhood of Tamsuy.

Woods.—Besides the far-famed camphor-wood, of which there are several descriptions, Formosa is rich in a variety of timber. When collecting material at Taiwanfoo for the International Exhibition I sent to a large timber-yard in the town for specimens of native woods, and procured no less than sixty-five kinds. These I have lately presented to the Kew Museum.

Petroleum, or Rock Oil.—At Tungshao, some few miles below Tamsuy, wells of this oil occur. Through the kindness of Captain