Camphor tree

The camphor tree (Dryobalanops aromatica) is a lofty dipterocarp native to the interior river systems of the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, producing both solid camphor (kapur barus) and camphor oil, and long associated with a specialised linguistic register and a body of indigenous belief among the Jakun and other aboriginal communities of the Johor interior [1, p. 35]. Its commercial significance dates to at least the sixth century, and its presence on the Malay Peninsula was not botanically confirmed until the 1890s, despite the fact that camphor-hunting had been practised there for generations [1, pp. 35–36]. The tree’s ecological rarity—only a small proportion of individuals actually yield camphor—gave rise to a complex set of taboos, an artificial language, and a tradition of specialist knowledge that persisted into the late nineteenth century [2, pp. 112–115], [1, pp. 39–40].

Botanical Description and Distribution

Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertn., also known as D. camphora Colebr., is described by Lake and Kelsall as a lofty dipterocarp reaching 100 to 150 feet in height, with a stem roughly three and a half feet in diameter at the base [1, p. 35]. The species produces two distinct commercial products: solid Borneo camphor (kapur barus) and camphor oil, the latter referred to in the camphor language as s’mp’loh kapur [1, p. 35].

The first confirmed botanical record of the species on the Malay Peninsula was made by Lake and Kelsall, who identified it as native to the Madek and Kahang rivers in the Indau district of Johore [1, p. 35]. No prior botanical work had recorded its presence on the Peninsula, although the commercial product had long been known to traders [1, p. 35]. Hervey’s 1879 expedition to Gunong Blumut, which traversed the upper Lenggiu and Teba rivers in the same general region, did not specifically record the camphor tree among the flora he collected, though he noted the presence of hill coffee shrubs with good-sized berries on the river banks and a variety of ferns and other plants [2, pp. 100]. The absence of a botanical record does not, however, imply the absence of the tree; as an old Binua (a member of the aboriginal community) observed to Hervey, “camphor is so valuable that not a single full grown tree would be left in the forest” if it were readily obtainable [2, p. 115].

Commercial History and Extraction

The commercial history of Borneo camphor extends back to at least the sixth century, when it is mentioned in the poems of the Arabian prince Imru-l-kais [1, p. 36]. A more detailed early account appears in Garcia da Orta’s Historia Aromatum (1593), which records the elaborate grading system employed by Hindu and Arab traders. Camphor was classified into four grades—“head,” “breast,” “legs,” and “feet”—worth 80, 20, 12, and 4 pardans per pound respectively, and a pound of Borneo camphor was considered worth a hundred pounds of Chinese camphor [1, p. 36].

The method of extraction, as described by H. N. R. in the 1894 article, involves a preliminary test in which a deep cut is made in the bark; if a faint odour is detected, the tree is felled and split, and the camphor grains are scraped from the interior cracks, washed free of wood fragments, and prepared for sale [1, pp. 38–40]. The product was sold to Chinese traders at Kwala Indau at prices ranging from $15 to $40 per katti (a unit of weight) depending on quality [1, pp. 38–40]. Only a very small percentage of camphor trees actually contain the substance, and skilled detectors known as Penghulu Kapur (headmen of camphor) were employed to identify promising specimens [1, pp. 39–40].

The Jakun believe that a spirit, called bisan, presides over the camphor trees, and its shrill nocturnal cry—identified by the authors as the call of a cicada—signals the proximity of camphor-bearing trees [1, p. 40]. This belief underpinned the broader system of taboo and ritual observance that governed the hunt.

The Camphor Language and Associated Beliefs

The most distinctive cultural feature associated with camphor-hunting is the specialised linguistic register known as bahasa kapur or, more precisely, pantang kapur (camphor taboo language) [2, p. 112]. While searching for camphor, the hunters abstain from certain kinds of food, eat a little earth, and use this artificial language in place of ordinary Malay [2, p. 112]. The belief is that if care be not taken to use the bahasa kapur, great difficulty will be experienced in finding camphor trees, and that when found the camphor will not yield itself to the collector [2, p. 114].

William Logan first documented this language in 1847, recording that it was in use on the Sedili, the Endau, and the Batu Pahat rivers [2, p. 112]. Hervey, some thirty years later, went through Logan’s list and collected additional words, finding that most of the vocabulary was formed on Malayan roots, often by substituting for the common name a term derived from some quality of the object—for example, “grass fruit” for rice, “far-sounding” for gun, “short-legged” for hog, and “leaves” for hair [2, pp. 112–113]. Hervey’s collection largely corroborated Logan’s, with minor phonetic variations, confirming that the language remained in active use in the 1870s [2, pp. 112–114].

Lake and Kelsall noted in 1894 that the camphor language consists largely of Malay or Malay-origin words but retains a significant number of non-Malay terms presumed to be remnants of the original Jakun dialects, which were otherwise nearly obsolete in the Indau and Sembrong districts [1, p. 40]. This observation suggests that the camphor language served, in part, as a conservatory of archaic linguistic material.

The Bermun (Benuak) tribes, at least on the western side of the Peninsula, did not collect camphor and were unacquainted with the bahasa kapur [2, p. 115]. The practice was thus confined to specific communities and river systems, and its persistence into the 1890s testifies to the continued economic importance of the trade despite the declining availability of the resource.

Ecological and Cultural Context

The camphor tree’s association with the interior highlands of Johore places it within a broader ecological and mythological landscape. Hervey’s account of the Benuak creation legend, confirmed by the Dato (elder) at Pengkalan Teba, identifies the Blumut mountain group as the oldest land and the axis of the earth’s stability, with Gunong Ledang, Gunong Kap, Gunong Tongkat Bangsi, and Gunong Tongkat Subang as the northern anchors [2, pp. 105–106]. The summit of Blumut, at 3,190 feet, was regarded with superstitious reverence, and the Batin (chief) at Pengkalan Teba described the mountain as the dwelling place of the tiger race, which had been driven to the sister peak of Chimundong upon the approach of the white man [2, p. 108].

The camphor tree’s habitat in the upper reaches of the Madek and Kahang rivers places it within this same interior highland zone, where the soil runs through all changes from black mould to red clay and sand, and where the jungle is unbroken and the streams follow into the Johor, Endau, and Sedili [2, p. 109]. The rarity of camphor-yielding trees within an otherwise abundant population of the species [2, p. 115], [1, pp. 39–40] may reflect specific micro-environmental conditions not yet fully understood, and the indigenous system of detection and taboo may have developed in response to this unpredictability.

Research and Documentation

The Society’s literature on the camphor tree spans a period of some fifteen years, from Hervey’s 1879 expedition account to the 1894 article by Lake and Kelsall, and reflects a shift in emphasis from ethnographic and linguistic documentation to botanical confirmation and commercial description. Hervey’s paper, read before the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society on 13 October 1879, was primarily an account of a physical expedition, and the camphor language and associated beliefs were recorded as part of a broader ethnographic survey of the Jakun and Benuak communities [2, pp. 112–115]. The linguistic data he collected served to verify and extend Logan’s earlier work of 1847, establishing the continuity of the practice over a period of three decades [2, pp. 112–114].

The 1894 article by Lake and Kelsall marked a significant shift in focus: its central purpose was to record the first confirmed botanical occurrence of Dryobalanops aromatica on the Malay Peninsula, a gap in the scientific record that had persisted despite the long history of the camphor trade [1, p. 35]. The article also provided a more detailed account of the extraction process and the commercial pricing at Kwala Indau, and it situated the camphor language within a broader discussion of the linguistic heritage of the Jakun people [1, pp. 38–40]. The identification of the bisan spirit as a cicada represented an attempt to rationalise an indigenous belief within a natural-historical framework [1, p. 40].

Together, these two contributions document a resource that was simultaneously of considerable commercial value, of botanical interest, and of profound cultural significance to the aboriginal communities of the Johor interior. The records also illustrate the broader pattern of colonial-era natural-historical surveying, in which botanical, commercial, and ethnographic data were gathered in the course of expeditions that served multiple institutional and scientific purposes [2, pp. 85–115], [1, pp. 35–40].

MBRAS Sources

• D.F.A. Hervey (1879). Atrip to Gunong Blumut. JSBRAS 3: 85–115
• H.J. Kelsall et al. (1894). The camphor tree and the camphor language of Johore. JSBRAS 26: 35–37

References

1. H.J. Kelsall et al. (1894). The camphor tree and the camphor language of Johore JSBRAS 26: 35–37. Read on JSTOR
2. D.F.A. Hervey (1879). Atrip to Gunong Blumut JSBRAS 3: 85–115.