Article

The camphor tree and the camphor language of Johore

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

The camphor tree and the camphor language of Johore

H. Lake and H. J. Kelsall, with a supplementary contribution by H. N. R., published this article in 1894 in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. 26), documenting the botanical, commercial, and ethnolinguistic dimensions of Borneo camphor (Dryobalanops aromatica) in the Indau district of Johore. The article’s central purpose is twofold: to record the first confirmed occurrence of the camphor tree on the Malay Peninsula and to preserve a vocabulary of the specialized “camphor language” (Pantang Kapur) used by the Jakun people during their jungle expeditions.

Summary

The authors, returning from a recent expedition across Johore, report that Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertn. (also known as D. camphora Colebr.) is a native of the Madek and Kahang rivers in the Indau district, though no prior botanical work had recorded its presence on the Malay Peninsula (p. 35). The tree is described as a lofty Dipterocarp, 100–150 feet tall with a stem roughly 3½ feet in diameter at the base, producing two distinct products: solid Borneo camphor (Kapur Barus) and camphor oil (S’mp’loh kapur in the camphor language) (p. 35). The authors trace the commercial history of the product from its earliest mention in the sixth-century poems of the Arabian prince Imru-l-kais through the detailed account of Garcia da Orta’s Historia Aromatum (1593), which records the elaborate grading system used by Hindu and Arab traders—classifying camphor into “head,” “breast,” “legs,” and “feet” grades worth 80, 20, 12, and 4 pardans per pound respectively (pp. 36–37).

The ethnographic section, contributed by H. N. R., describes the Jakun method of extraction: the tree is first tested by a deep cut 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 sold to Chinese traders at Kwala Indau at prices of $15 to $40 per katti depending on quality (pp. 38–40). The Jakun believe a spirit (“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 (p. 40).

The linguistic component notes 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 are otherwise nearly obsolete in the Indau and Sembrong districts (p. 40).

Key Findings

  • Dryobalanops aromatica is confirmed as native to the Madek and Kahang rivers in Johore, with no prior record of the species from any other part of the Malay Peninsula (p. 35).
  • Garcia da Orta (1593) records a four-grade pricing system for Borneo camphor—head (80 pardans/lb), breast (20), legs (12), feet (4–5)—and notes that a pound of Borneo camphor was worth a hundred pounds of Chinese camphor (p. 36).
  • The Jakun extraction method involves testing the bark for odour, felling and splitting the tree, scraping grains from interior cracks, and washing out wood and sap before sale at Kwala Indau (pp. 38, 40).
  • Only a very small percentage of camphor trees actually contain camphor; skilled detectors are called Penghulu Kapur (pp. 39, 40).
  • The “bisan” spirit is identified by the authors as a cicada, whose nocturnal cry the Jakun interpret as a sign of nearby camphor trees (p. 40).
  • The camphor language (Pantang Kapur) contains non-Malay vocabulary elements that represent remnants of otherwise nearly obsolete Jakun dialects in the Indau and Sembrong districts (p. 40).

Conclusion

The article establishes that Borneo camphor was known and traded long before Chinese camphor and remained too expensive for the European market, being eagerly purchased by Chinese, Siamese, and Japanese buyers for incense, embalming, and medicine (p. 38). Its lasting value lies in preserving both the first botanical record of the species in the Peninsula and a fragment of Jakun linguistic heritage that was already in rapid decline by 1894.

Context

  • The article was published alongside the account of the same expedition across Johore in the same volume of the JSBRAS, situating it within a broader programme of colonial-era natural-historical surveying of the state (p. 35).
  • The camphor vocabulary list, though referenced throughout the article, appears to have been published separately or in a subsequent section, as the text here serves as an introduction to it (p. 35).

References