e middling size which I
had cut down measured at the base, where the camphor leaks out, 7-1/2
Paris feet in diameter (about 8 feet English); its trunk rose to 100 feet,
with an upper diameter of 5 feet, before dividing, and the height of the
whole tree to the crown was 150 feet. The precious consolidated camphor is
found in small quantities, 1/4 lb. to 1 lb. in a single tree, in
fissure-like hollows in the stem. Yet many are cut down in vain, or split
up the side without finding camphor. The camphor oil is prepared by the
natives by bruising and boiling the twigs." The oil, however, appears also
to be found in the tree, as Crawford and Collingwood mention, corroborating
the ancient Arab.

It is well known that the Chinese attach an extravagantly superior value
to the Malay camphor, and probably its value in Marco's day was higher
than it is now, but still its estimate as worth its weight in gold looks
like hyperbole. Forrest, a century ago, says Barus Camphor was in the
Chinese market worth nearly its weight in _silver_, and this is true
still. The price is commonly estimated at 100 times that of the Chinese
camphor. The whole quantity exported from the Barus territory goes to
China. De Vriese reckons the average annual export from Sumatra between
1839 and 1844 at less than 400 kilogrammes. The following table shows the
wholesale rates in the Chinese market as given by Rondot in 1848:--

_Qualities of Camphor_. _Per picul of 133-1/3 lbs._
Ordinary China, 1st quality 20 dollars.
" " 2nd " 14 "
Formosa 25 "
Japan 30 "
China _ngai_ (ext. from an Artemisia) 250 "
Barus, 1st quality 2000 "
" 2nd " 1000 "

The Chinese call the Sumatran (or Borneo) Camphor _Ping-pien_ "Icicle
flakes," and _Lung-nan_ "Dragon's Brains." [Regarding Baros Camphor, Mr.
Groeneveldt writes (_Notes_, p. 142): "This substance is generally called
_dragon's brain perfume_, or _icicles_. The former name has probably been
invented by the first dealers in the article, who wanted to impress their
countrymen with a great idea of its value and rarity. In the trade three
different qualities are distinguished: the first is called
_prune-blossoms_, being the larger pieces; the second is _rice-campho