C a m p h o r .
Chenopodium fcoparia, 113. Sp. pi. i. 622. Kaempf. Amoen. v. p.
885. A famous medicine, fays Dodtor Thunberg, according to
Kaempfer, from whom he borrows moft o f the medicinal virtues
o f the plants.
Acorus calamus, 144* Sp. pi. 2. p. 92. Kaempf. Amcen. v. p. 912.
FI. Cocb. 259.
Calamus arornaiicus, Gerard, 63, ftill retained in our difpenfa-
tory.
Convallaria Japonica, 139. Kaempf. Amoen. v. p. 823. fig. p.
824. Lin. Suppl. p. 204. The roots, preferved in fugar, are recommended
both by the Cbinefe and Japanefe to lick people.
Smilax China, 152. Sp. pi. 4. 256. Kaempf. Amoen. v. p. 781. fig.
p. 782. Flor. Cocb. 763.
Polygonum multiflorum, 169. The root eaten raw is efteemeda
cordial; roafted it has a bitter tafte.
Laurus camphora, 172. Sp. pL 2. p. 226. Kaempf.Amoen.v. p. 770,
f. 771. Travels, i. 115. Flor. Cocb. 306. The camphor tree grows to
a vaft fize in all parts o f Jaf>an, and its iflands; as yet it has only
been figured by Kaempfer. The camphor is extracted from the
wood by the peafants, who cut it into fmall pieces, and boiling
them in water, obtain this drug, which they fell very cheap.
T h& Japanefe value the camphor o f Sumatra and Borneo much
more than their own, and will give eighty or a hundred Catti o f
their boiled camphor for one o f the Bornean; the laft is native,
and gathered on the flumps o f the trees, or taken from the in-
•terftices in fmall cryftallized lumps. There is another kind
found fluid, which is called camphor oil, but never on the fame
tree with the concrete; this feems another fpecies, and is obtained
by incifion; a hole is made in the trunk capable o f holding
* about
J A P A N . ' 215
about a quart, a lighted reed is placed in if, which attradts the
fluid to that part. Neither o f the trees which yield the Sumatran
or Bornean camphors are yet afcertained; Kaempfer fays,
“ ex Dapbneo Sanguine non e j l fo it certainly is not even o f the
fame genus as t\iQ japanefe.
Tbea Bohea, 2 2 5 , Sp. pi. 2 . p. 5 8 9 , Kaempf. Amoen. v. p. 5 0 5 . T e a ;
817. Kaempfer's Travels, i. 115. ii. appendix, 2 . tab. 3 8 , 3 9 . The
tea cultivated in Japan is the Bohea, the Tfjaa o f the Japanefe,
the Theb. o f the Cbinefe. The origin o f it has its legend equal to
any in the univerfe. Darma, the fon o f an Indian king, who
flourilhed about the year 5 1 9 o f the Chriftian era, arrived in
China to preach his dodtrine to the inhabitants. It feems he was
a fort o f pope in India, the twenty-eighth in fucceffion from the
founder o f eaftern paganifm. He had vowed the greateft au-
fterities, particularly a perpetual watchfulnefs; nature, worn out,
was obliged at length to fubmit to the refrefhment o f fleep ; on
finifhipg his flumbers, he cut off both his eye-brows, which had
dared to clofe,. and flinging them on the ground, each became a
Ihrub ; Darma eat fome o f the leaves, and to his great furprife,.
found' himfelf invigorated, fo as to undergo any labors or any
watchings; he communicated the virtues to his difciples, and
tea became o f univerfal ufe. It is therefore ftyled by fome the
eye-brows o f D a rm a he is reprefented as a horrid ugly fellow,,
with vaft eye-brows, wrapped in a great cloak,,and ftanding on a
reed, on which he had been wafted from region to region.
We may be certain from this tale, that the tea plant was aboriginal
o f China.. It is cultivated by fowing, not in whole fields,
but round the borders in rows, fo that it may not hurt the land ;
good farmers manure the plants with human ordure. In feven
years
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