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.