Leave Macao for Whampoa—Entrance to the Bocca Tigris—Country
about Chuen, pee—Scene at Whampoa—Approach to Canton—The town
and suburbs—The sailor’s coffee-shop—Selling by weight—Dwarf
orange trees—The tea shrub—Visit to the celebrated Fa-tee
gardens—Topics of conversation—Exaggeration—Rambles in the
suburbs—The city-gate—Manufactories—Sandal-wood.
On the 16th of October I left Macao for the “Cum, sing, moon,” and the
following morning sailed in the Lady Hayes, Captain Hector, for Whampoa,
which afforded me an excellent opportunity of viewing the scenery of the
river. We passed the island of Lintin, off which, (in the roadstead, on
the north-west side,) a number of ships were lying at anchor. About ten
P.M. we anchored off Chuen, pee, for the night. On the morning following,
as soon as the tide was favourable, we were again under weigh, and about
noon passed, with a light, but favourable breeze, the Bocca Tigris, and
entered the river. This entrance to a very magnificent and extensive
stream, is capable of being very strongly fortified. The Chinese have
forts, mounting a great number of cannon, erected on each side of the
passage: they excited some degree of interest in our minds, as being
those silenced by the broadside of his Majesty’s ship Alceste, some years
since; a triumph of British firmness over Chinese impudence.
The country about Chuen, pee had a picturesque appearance; but although
we hear so much related about the Chinese cultivating every spot of land,
not leaving even the most barren spots unoccupied, in few countries
have I seen more land left waste, much of which has an appearance of
fertility: the valleys certainly were cultivated, and had an animated and
pleasing feature in the landscape from the vivid green of the numerous
plantations of what seemed to be sugar-cane scattered about. But with
this exception, and the neat cottages nearly buried in the foliage of the
trees surrounding them, there was no interesting view: the elevated land
was, principally bare, barren, and uncultivated.
On entering the river, the scenery was very pleasing; the banks were low,
and, for the most part, under rice cultivation, which, still retaining
its green tinge, imparted a luxuriant and animating beauty to the view.
Small huts were scattered about, over which the graceful bamboo waved
its towering stem; the high and wooded hills arose in the distance of
the back ground of the landscape; and this, with boats passing about the
intersecting canals of the paddy-fields, formed the principal feature of
the country about the Canton river to Whampoa, where we arrived in the
evening,[34] and left in a boat for Canton (a distance of twelve miles)
on the following day.
The scene at Whampoa, with so large a number of shipping collected
together, was remarkably animating; and at this season, there was a noble
addition of most of the ships of the Honourable East India Company,
the finest class of merchant-ships in the world. On proceeding from
Whampoa to Canton, the banks of the river were flat, and cultivated with
wooded hills in the distance, villages, pagodas,[35] which formed, in
combination, some very interesting scenery. As we approached Canton,
the bustle and multitude of boats increased upon the river: these boats
contained whole families, who had been born and bred in them. They
could often be seen containing the young sprawling infant, just able to
walk, the new-born infant, and the aged grandmother, all reared in this
confined space; but at the same time, the people wore an appearance of
happiness and content upon their countenances, in spite of their squalid
misery. They keep their boats, in a very neat and clean condition, which
certainly confers some degree of credit upon the people. The flag-staffs
and the noble pile of buildings, forming the factories of the different
nations, appeared to our view; and, arriving soon after, I called upon
and remained during my residence in Canton with my friend, Mr. Whiteman.
Canton is generally said to possess but little, in the confined spot
allotted to the range of Europeans, to interest the stranger. This may
be partially correct; but still the peculiar customs of the people and
the range of the suburbs may afford many days of amusement, being novel,
and unlike what is seen in any other country in the world. The range of
factories or Hongs belonging to different nations, having flag-staffs,
on which the national colours are hoisted from sunrise to sunset, are
fine buildings, more especially those belonging to the English East
India Company, which are of greater extent than the whole of the others.
Several weeping willows are planted about the open space near the river,
in front of the factories. The English and Dutch hongs have neat gardens,
laid out for a promenade, in front of them; but the open space before
most of the others forms the “quarter-deck,” where every evening the
European residents take their limited walk.
The weather in front of the factories is usually at this season of the
year sultry, but on entering the alleys of the hongs, cold currents
of air are felt pouring down upon the just heated frame. A sudden
atmospherical change very frequently occurs, which certainly cannot
be regarded as conducive to health, but, on the contrary, must prove
highly detrimental: from the little ill-effects experienced from this
by the residents, all that can be said on the subject is, that they
probably get habituated to the frequent vicissitudes. There are two
broad paved streets,[36] filled with shops, in which every description
of manufactured articles, both after European and China patterns, can
be purchased. Here are contained a profusion of specimens of the arts,
more particularly those of ivory, tortoiseshell, and lacquered ware,[37]
tempting to the visitor, and which soon cause him to return from Canton
very deficient in the dollars he had brought with him.
In front of one of the shops was a lacquered board, upon which, in golden
letters, was the following attraction for Jack, who may be accidentally
rolling by the shop:—“The Sailor’s Coffee Shop, Chan Lung, No. 10, New
China Street, where all kinds of silks and teas are sold, and goods of
every description for seamen. Sailors! you are invited to try this
shop, where you will find honest dealing, and where you can have ready
made coffee and tea, but no samshoo.” The rooms, for this purpose, were
very neat, with small couches for honest and sober Jack to recline upon,
some pamphlets and tracts to amuse his mind as he sipped the decoction
of the Indian berry; the shop contained straw hats, various portraits,
and coarse articles of Chinese manufacture, tempting him to purchase for
his friends and acquaintances at home; and the owner appeared to be an
intelligent man. Eatables are seen carried about the streets in great
numbers, and of all descriptions. Dogs, cats, rats, living and dead; with
fowls, ducks, and other kinds of poultry, as well as living eels, carp,
&c. in buckets of water: the latter are fed and fattened in stews, and
taken out for sale when considered in a sufficiently prime state; the
fresh water fish are very insipid in taste.
Every thing living or dead, organic or inorganic, is sold by weight in
this celestial country, whether it be fruit or ballast stones, oil or
vegetables, living dogs or pigs, cats or poultry, they are all purchased
by the catty. The dogs and pussies are highly esteemed by the Chinese,
who convert them into delicious (according to their organs of taste)
bow-wow soup, and rich pussy broth. A Chinese does not appear to have
any idea of measurement, for one was asked whether we should have much
wind—“Yes, plenty catties of wind, by, by, come;” and when some gentlemen
were taking observations of the sun, the Chinese observed upon them,
that “they were weighing the sun.” Eating shops are very numerous in
the suburbs of Canton, containing an immense number of made dishes, and
decorated also with enormous fat pigs, varnished over, and pendent from
different parts of the shops, together with varnished ducks and geese;
the latter birds are also dried and pressed, and then have a curious
appearance.
One evening I visited the celebrated Fa, tee gardens, which are situated
a short distance up the river, and on the opposite side to that upon
which Canton is situated. On visiting these nursery gardens I certainly
expected to have seen a splendid collection of Chinese plants and
flowers, but I was sadly disappointed; the worst nursery garden in any
of the provincial towns in Great Britain, was far, very far beyond any
of these, both in size, extent, display of flowering plants and shrubs,
even of the boasted flowers of China themselves. In how many of the
greenhouses at home are not the _Azaleas_, _Cammelias_, _Chrysanthemum_,
_Hibiscus_, &c. seen in large and beautiful varieties, flourishing in
the highest state of perfection? Yes, and equal to (except in a few novel
varieties, which have not yet survived the voyage home) the boasted
display in these wretched places, called “flower gardens.”
A board at the entrance of one of them has the following attractive
notice painted upon it in English:—“Aching has for sale, fruit trees,
flowering plants, and seeds of all kinds: Fa, tee gardens, No. 2.” The
gardens merely contained some varieties of the Chrysanthemum, small trees
of the Finger Citron, with that curious fruit tied upon them to look as
if they were growing from the tree; and a number of dwarf orange trees of
different varieties, laden with green and ripe fruit.
The Chinese procure the dwarf orange trees, laden with fruit, by
selecting a branch of a larger tree upon which there may be a good supply
of fruit: the cuticle being detached from one part of the branch, is
plastered over with a mixture of clay and straw, until roots are given
out, when the branch is cut off, planted in a pot, and thus forms a dwarf
tree laden with fruit. Other means are adopted to give the trunk and
bark an appearance of age, and these, with the dwarf bamboos and other
trees, must certainly be regarded as the principal Chinese vegetable
curiosities. As far as gardening, or laying out a garden is concerned,
these people possess any thing but the idea of beauty or true taste,
neither being in the least degree attended to in the arrangement of their
gardens; every thing bears the semblance of being stiff, awkward, and
perfectly unnatural. To distort nature a Chinese seems to consider the
attainment of perfection.
At these gardens the different species and varieties of the tea shrub,
both in seeds and young plants, can be procured. According to Chinese
botany there exist many varieties as well as species of the tea shrub.
The quality of the tea does not only depend upon the mode in which it is
prepared, but also upon the soil where it is cultivated. They make a very
minute distinction about the hills where the tea is grown, in the same
manner as we do in regard to the vine. The Kwang Keun, fang pao, a work
on Chinese botany, in forty volumes, treats largely upon the subject, and
mentions every hill where good tea grows. Fokien province is the richest
tea territory; but it grows more or less in all the provinces, except the
northern ones. There are many species mentioned, which had never come
under the notice of Europeans, and their flavour is highly extolled.
The writer of this work largely expatiates upon the wonderful qualities
possessed by some trees, with all the vanity of a Chinese. He treats upon
the modes in which the tea shrub is cultivated, and the crop gathered;
but he possesses too much learning to be a good botanist, and quotes
continually verses and the sayings of the ancients to embellish the
subject. There is certainly, in the whole, more learning than good sense.
He also treats upon how the seed is to be sown, how the leaves of the tea
shrub ought to be prepared, and in what manner the shrub is to be pruned
in order that it should produce luxuriant foliage. He also enters upon
minute details, how the tea leaf is to be plucked, and afterwards dried
and packed. Though the subject is trivial, it would require some study to
make this work intelligible to Europeans.
The Rev. C. Gutzlaff, having looked over this botanical work in the
Chinese language, favoured me with the above brief opinion on it.
The _Cycas revoluta_ (Fung, maee, cho, of the Chinese) was planted in
pots, and from being so generally seen about the dwellings of the people,
I should consider was a favourite with them; a number of dwarf elms,
bamboos, and other trees, with a number of varieties of _Hibiscus_,
_Althæa_, were Malva, were all these _celebrated gardens_ contained.
The principal topics of conversation, as the space in front of the
factories is traversed over and over again by the foreigners, are opium,
Areka-nut, (erroneously called betel-nut,) pepper, rattans, and cotton.
The different reports that have been set in motion, (gaining as they
proceed from mouth to mouth during the day,) are discussed early in the
morning: true, or untrue, is immaterial; every body credits them, and
they serve _pour passer le temps_. If one person meets another, a cool
bow of acknowledgment is made, and he passes on his way; or he may be
doomed to run the gauntlet, if any important event has been started,
with every one he meets, at the corner of every hong, at the risk of
being scorched by the sun, or, if taken under shelter, exposed to a
chilling blast: as the day advances, he will find the tale increased
to such an extent, that the person who heard it in the morning would
hardly recognize the bantling by the evening: the three black crows is a
mere trifle to some of their inventions: one relates mutinies happening
on board an Indiaman, of the existence of which even the commander was
ignorant: a slight illness of a lady at Macao, by the time it reaches
her husband at Canton, by passing from individual to individual, becomes
a dangerous state, if not her actual decease; and at the time the
intelligence is communicated to her afflicted husband, she is probably
attending one of the gay evening conversational parties at Macao, in
which one derives exceeding enjoyment, hearing the ladies “discourse most
eloquent music,” and mildly pass over the personal defects or mental
faults of each other. One may very naturally therefore ask, “if anything
has been invented this morning?” and if accuracy is requisite, how the
news arrived, whose authority, &c.
One person happened to say casually, of a long-missing ship, “Perhaps she
has been dismasted, and put into Manilla, and that may account for her
detention:” in the evening, a report was in circulation, and believed,
that accounts had that day been received of the missing ship having
safely arrived at Manilla, but that she had lost all her masts. It is
therefore dangerous to make an observation; for should it not at first
be deemed sufficiently important, it will soon be increased, both in
intricacy and consequence, as it passes the daily course. Any person,
then, who may visit China, will show his wisdom by preserving silence as
much as possible, and he will be lauded by some for the space of a few
days; then he will rise in importance, and every body will buzz and talk
the most extraordinary things about him; he will be a mystery, and all
the residents will be delighted with him, for he will listen tranquilly,
and in much of the conversation he will hear far more than he will in any
way be inclined to believe. The trifling or casual passing observations
are usually—“What news?” “None.” “Fine weather?”—“Yes.” “Warm?” “Yes,
exceedingly sultry.” “Is opium getting up?”—“Have not heard. No
arrivals?” “None! Good morning.”
Taking rambles over the narrow streets of the suburbs of Canton, filled
with elegant shops, strictly Chinese, with the various gilded signs, I
witnessed a very novel and agreeable sight to a stranger: every thing
assumed a different appearance to that seen in any other country: the
narrow and crowded streets, hardly afford a passage for two persons
abreast, and the constant passing and repassing of porters with their
burdens, bawling out to clear the way, is annoying to passengers.
The shops are fitted up in an elegant style, and are, in many of the
streets, exceedingly spacious: the shoemakers’ shops are filled with
shoes, from those of the small-footed woman decorated in a most tasteful
and fanciful manner, to the larger ones of the long-footed race. The
shops of tailors, sign-painters, apothecaries, book and paper sellers,
glass-blowers, &c. are numerous; and eating-shops, filled with all kinds
of birds and beasts, cooked in their peculiar manner, and afterwards
varnished; and poulterers’ shops, with living and dead poultry of all
descriptions, were in some of the streets very abundant.
On arriving at the large or principal gate leading into the city,
strangers are not permitted to pass: there are also smaller wicket-gates,
leading into the city, at other parts, at which persons are stationed to
prevent foreigners from passing: several mandarins would occasionally
be seen carried in their chairs, as well as some of the superior class
of Chinese small-eyed beauties borne in a kind of sedan, upon the
shoulders of coolies. On entering any of the shops, to see the process
of manufacturing, every attention was paid us by the Chinese: one that
attracted our attention, was the melting and manufacturing the lead
into thin plates, for lining tea-caddies, chests, &c. This is effected
by throwing rapidly the molten lead between two flat stones, upon the
inner surfaces of each of which paper was placed, pasted by its edges
upon the stone: as soon as the lead was thrown in, the upper stone fell
immediately upon the lower; (the process is very simple;) the upper
stone is then taken off, and the sheet of lead removed. Their method of
glass-blowing, cotton-cleaning, and spangle-manufactory, were also seen;
and we were readily permitted to view the various processes employed
without any interruption. A walk about the streets of the suburbs I
always found full of interest, as throwing much light upon the peculiar
customs and manufactures of these extraordinary and industrious people.
It is well known that sandal-wood is esteemed by Europeans, on account
of its being a valuable article of merchandize to China: the Chinese are
particular, however, in their choice of the wood; they prefer it when
the pieces are about the diameter of the arm,[38] straight, smooth, of a
dark colour, with a faint and agreeable smell, not the rank odour that
some of the wood possesses. The yellow wood is inferior in the market;
and the very light yellow and white woods are too young, and almost, if
not totally, unsaleable. The Chinese name for it, is Tan-heong; (Taan, or
Tan, being the name given to that particular tree; and Heong, scented
wood;) and it sells from two and a half to twenty dollars the pecul,
according to the quality of the wood. The usual size of the wood, as an
article of commerce in China, is of a diameter of four or six inches, and
a length of three or four feet; from eight to twelve pieces of wood of
that size usually weighing a pecul. A piece of sandal-wood, of the size
just mentioned, is considered the most acceptable offering that a person
can carry in his hand to present to the idols in the temples: the large
pieces are the votive offering of a rich person, to burn on particular
occasions, such for instance as at the commencement of the new year;
small pieces are then abundantly sold about the streets, for the lower
class of people to purchase, for burning before the deities. “The Canton
people,” said a Chinese merchant, “do not burn so much sandal-wood as
those of the northern provinces, as in the latter superstition reigns to
a greater extent than in the former.”[39]
In the plantations of this tree, belonging to the Honourable East India
Company, upon the Coromandel coasts, it is not permitted to attain a
large size, but is cut down when of a growth and quality calculated
to render it available for the China market. The wood is rasped by the
Chinese, made into pastiles, and in that form burnt before the idols:
the oil is said to be expressed from the wood, and also to be extracted
by boiling or distillation. Sandal-wood oil is highly esteemed, by some
persons, in herpetic eruptions.
The sandal-wood tree, (_Sántalum_) is placed in the natural order
Santalàceæ, class Tetrándria, order Monogynia. There are several species,
but all have not wood possessed of fragrance. Of those from which the
scented wood is procured I am acquainted with three species: two have
been described, one the _Sántalum myrtifòlium_, found on the coast of
Coromandel; and _S. Freycinetiànum_, found at the Sandwich Islands; the
other, an undescribed species, at the New Hebrides group; the latter
appearing to have an affinity to that found on the Coromandel shores.
The native names of the sandal-wood, in some of the countries where it is
found indigenous, are as follow:—
Among the Malays, Jeendana. New Hebrides: Island of Erromanga, Nassau;
Island of Tanna, Nebissi; Island of Annatom, Narti, niat. The Marquesa
group, Bua ahi. The Island of Oparo, Turi, turi. At the Island of Tahiti
(where it has been found on the mountains, but is very scarce) and
Eimeo, Ahi. On the Malabar coast, Chandana cotte. In the Island of Timor,
Aikamenil. In the Island of Amboyna, Ayasru. At the Fidji group, Iarsé.
At the Sandwich Islands, Iliahi.
Different varieties of the sandal-wood are likewise found in India,
Eastern Archipelago, (more particularly in the islands to the eastward,)
the Marquesas, Fidji, New Hebrides groups, &c.; the Island of Juan
Fernandez; and have been occasionally found on the high mountains of
Tahiti, Eimeo, and Raivavae, or High Island. Mr. Crawford observes,
(_Indian Archipelago_, vol. i. p. 419, 420,) respecting sandal-wood, that
it is “a native of the Indian islands, and is found of three varieties,
white, yellow, and red; the two first being most esteemed. From Java
and Madura, eastward, it is scattered in small quantities throughout
the different islands, improving in quantity and quality as we move to
the east, until we reach Timor, whence the best and largest supply is
obtained.” And he observes:—“In the western countries, where it either
does not exist at all, or exists in small quantity and of bad quality;
it is universally known by the Sanscrit name of Chandana, from whence it
may be fair to infer, that its use was taught by the Hindûs when they
propagated their religion, in the ceremonies of which it is frequently
employed.”
The sandal-wood tree is most usually found in hilly districts and rocky
situations; and, when growing on low land, is of a degenerated quality.
This latter circumstance is known to the Chinese; for, at Singapore,
a Chinese merchant observed, that the sandal-wood found growing on
the rocky mountains contains the greatest quantity of oil, and is of
more value than that which grows in low situations and rich soil, as
the latter is found to have degenerated. On asking him from whence he
derived his information, he stated, “from Chinese books.” At the Friendly
Islands they use the wood for scenting their cocoa-nut oil, and a piece
of the wood is considered a valuable present by the chiefs; they procure
it occasionally from the Fidji Islands, and call it Ahi Fidji. The
tree will not thrive at Tongatabu. The species found at the island of
Erromanga (New Hebrides) has ovate, entire, smooth, petioled leaves, of a
light-green colour above, whitish and distinctly veined underneath; some
of the leaves varied by being pointed. It is a tree of irregular and slow
growth; it attains the height of about eight feet without, and thirty
feet with branches, and about two feet in diameter. I always remarked,
however, that after attaining a moderate size, it was invariably found
rotten in the heart. Sandal-wood is very heavy, sinks in water, and
the part of the tree which contains the essential oil (according to
Cartheuser, one pound of the wood will yield two drachms of the oil) on
which the agreeable odour depends, is the heart, the other portions of
the tree being destitute of any fragrance: this portion is surrounded by
a lighter wood of some thickness, denominated the sap, which is carefully
removed from the heart-wood. Sandal-wood is sold by weight, and varies in
price, according to the size and quality, from three to twenty dollars
and upwards the pecul (one hundred and thirty-three pounds.) When young,
the wood has a whitish colour, and possesses but little fragrance; as
it increases in age it becomes of a yellowish colour, and when old of a
brownish red colour, and at that period is most valued, from containing
the greatest quantity of that essential oil on which its fragrance
depends. It is considered that the wood is never attacked by insects:
this opinion is erroneous, as I have seen the nidus of some species
formed in it.
At the Sandwich Islands, the tree is named Iliahi, or Lauhala, signifying
sweet wood, (lau, wood; hala, sweet,) and when young the tree is here of
very elegant growth. At Wouhala (island of Oahu) I observed numbers of
the young trees, some of which were covered by a profusion of beautiful
flowers of a dark-red colour: the flowers, however, are often observed to
differ in colour on the same tree, and even on the same stalk; they grow
in clusters, some having the corolla externally of a dark-red colour, and
internally of a dull yellow; others having it entirely of a dark-red,
and others again have the corolla partly red and white externally; the
young leaves are of a dark-red colour, and give an elegant appearance
to the tree. This was not observed in the species found at the island
of Erromanga; indeed, the species found at the Sandwich Islands had a
more handsome appearance in its growth than that at Erromanga. At the
Sandwich Islands, two varieties of the wood are observed by the natives,
depending, however, only on the age of the tree; the young or white
wood is called lau, keo, keo; (lau, wood; keo, keo, white;) and the red
wood, lau, hula, hula; (lau, wood; hula, hula, red.) As before stated,
the wood, when taken from a young tree, is white, containing but a small
quantity of oil; as the tree increases in growth, the wood becomes
of a yellowish colour, and the oldest and best is of a brownish red
colour:[40] the different varieties of the wood depend, therefore, on the
age of the tree, and are of three kinds, white, yellow, and red, of which
the yellow and red (from containing the largest quantity of oil) are most
esteemed in the Chinese market, where the wood is principally used, the
expressed oil being mixed with pastiles, and burned before their idols in
the temples, as I have before mentioned.
Indigenous to the Sandwich Islands is a species of Myóporum, (_M.
tenuifòlium_,) the heart of which is fragrant; and, from having been
mistaken for sandal-wood, has received the name of spurious sandal-wood
from Europeans, and is called Naiho, or Naihio, by the natives. The
heart contains a quantity of essential oil; but the fragrance is not so
agreeable as that derived from the sandal-wood, and for that reason it
is not esteemed in the Chinese market; the heart is also surrounded by
a lighter wood, termed the sap, as in the sandal-wood tree. An instance
of the resemblance this bears to the sandal-wood, so as to deceive
a common observer, occurred during my visit to the island of Oahu,
(Sandwich Islands,) in December, 1829. Two large pieces of the Naiho,
deprived of the sap, were collected for me, and had been placed in the
yard of a mercantile gentleman previously to my taking them on board.
At this time there was some sandal-wood, of small size, weighing in the
yard, to be sent on board an American ship about to sail for Canton. The
supercargo, who was superintending the weighing, seeing these pieces,
mistook them for sandal-wood; and, anxious to secure two such large
pieces among the small kind which he had purchased, placed them in the
scales, and they were sent on board with the rest, the person engaged in
weighing being also ignorant of the difference. This circumstance was
not discovered until some time after the ship had sailed: engaged in
other pursuits, I had for some time forgotten my wood; but on inquiring
for it, its disappearance was accounted for, after some time, by the
cause just related. I was informed that a cargo of this wood was taken
by an American ship to Canton; and, on its arrival there, it was only
considered fit for fire-wood.
The name of a “spurious sandal-wood” is a source of alarm to those
who, engaged in purchasing sandal-wood, are not able to judge of the
difference, or have only known the “spurious kind” by name. An instance
of this occurred under my own observation. A vessel arrived from the
New Hebrides group at the Bay of Islands, (New Zealand,) in July, 1829,
having on board some sandal-wood. This was purchased by the commander of
a ship lying at that place; he had heard of the existence of a spurious
kind when at the Sandwich Islands, but never having seen it, was unable
to judge of the difference. When the sandal-wood came on board, it was
found to consist of the white, yellow, and red varieties, having been
procured from trees of different ages; that which was of a whitish
colour, and had less fragrance than the other wood, was considered
immediately to be what he had heard of as spurious wood, and was
rejected, much to the annoyance of the owner, who declared it was all
sandal-wood. This supposed spurious kind was laid aside, and was finally
delivered to the cook for fire-wood; and, when burning, it diffused a
delightful fragrance over the ship. Some of it was landed amongst the
fire-wood from the same ship, at the Sandwich Islands, much to the
surprise of some of the merchants, who thought that sandal-wood must be
very common on board when it was used as fire-wood.
The Naiho (_Myóporum tenuifòlium_) attains the height of fifteen to
twenty feet, and a circumference of three or four feet: the scented wood
differs, according to the age of the tree, from a light-yellow to a
reddish colour; the tree is branchy.