The earliest mention of camphor known occurs in the poems of Imru-l-kais, an Arabian prince who lived in Hadramaut, by the Gulf of Aden, in the sixth century. It was then evidently very rare, and highly prized as a perfume. It seems quite clear. that the Bornean camphor was known before the Chinese camphor, the product of the camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora). The Medieval Arabian writers state that the best camphor came from Fausur, also called Kansúr or Kaisúr, a place visited by Marco Polo. Yule believes this to be the same as Barus in Western Sumatra. Garcia in the Historia Aromatum (1593) gives a long and interesting account of it, of a portion of which the following is a translation. "Camphor is truly a noble medicine, of which there are two kinds, viz., camphor of Borneo and that which is brought from China. Borneo camphor has never yet penetrated to our regions, at least if it is here I have not happened to see it, nor is that strange, since a pound of it is worth as much as a hundred pounds of that which is brought from China. Of the Borneo camphor, which is as big as a millet seed or a little larger, the greater part is worthless. The Gentiles, Baneanes (Hindus), and Arabs who sell it say it consists of four kinds; for they classify it into head, breast, legs and feet.[1] That of the head is worth 80 pardans a pound. (A pardan is an Indian gold coin worth 10 Castilian Rials), that of the breast in worth 20, of the legs 12; of the feet, 4 or, at most, 5. Some, more particular, have four copper instruments perforated with holes of different sizes, (like those which pearldealers have) and pass the camphor through them. Those pieces which pass through the instrument with the larger holes have a certain value; those which are passed through the one with medium holes another; and those which pass through smaller holes another value. But the Baneanes are so clever at distinguishing them, that when mixed they can tell one camphor from another, nor can any one be found who can easily deceive them. Much of this camphor is produced in Borneo, Bairres, Sumatra, and Pacen. But the names of the places in which Serapion and Avicenna say it is produced for the most part are corrupt. For what Serapion calls Pansar, is Pacen in Sumatra; what Avicenna calls Alcuz may be Sunda, which is an island near Malacca."
- ↑ See Marsden's Sumatra, p. 121.
