Canara being the principal districts. The tree is usually twentyfive feet high, and when allowed to attain a greater height its trunk is generally found rotten at the core. The natives have an idea that the trees ought to be felled in the wane of the moon; an idea Europeans are wont to laugh at, though they might look a little more closely into the matter before doing so. I remember that in tropical America I often heard the woodcutters declare it to be absolute folly to fell timber whilst the moon was on the increase, as it was sure to become rotten very

BRANCH OF SANTALUM ALBUM. (NAT. SIZE.)

soon, being then in full sap. The bark of the sandal-tree should be taken off immediately, and the trunks cut into billets two feet long. These should then be buried in a piece of dry ground for two months, during which time the white ants will eat away all the outer wood, without touching the heart, constituting the sandal of commerce; the billets ought then to be taken up and smoothed, and, according to their size, sorted into three kinds. The deeper the colour the higher is the perfume; and

hence the merchants sometimes divide sandal into red, yellow, and white; but these are all various shades of the same colour, and do not arise from any different species in the tree. The nearer the root, in general, the higher is the perfume; and care should be taken, by removing the earth, to cut as low as possible. The billets next to the root, when this has been done, are commonly called root sandal. In smoothing the billets, chips of the sandal are, of course cut off; so are also fragments in squaring their ends, both of which, with the smaller assortment of billets, answer best for the Arabian markets; and from them the essential oil is distilled, so much esteemed in Turkey. The larger billets are sent to China, and the middle-sized ones used in India. When thus sorted and prepared, the sandal, at least three or four months before it is sold, ought to be shut up from the rain and wind, in a close warehouse; and the longer it is kept, with such precautions, the better; its weight diminishing more than its smell. Prepared in this way, it rarely splits or warps, accidents which render it unfit for many of the purposes to which it is applied.

Sandal-wood is sometimes called in old English works "Sander's-wood," but our present form, "Sandal" (Arab. Sandal), is more correct; the Chinese term the wood collectively, "Tan-heong," i. e., scented tree. On the Malabar coast, Santalum album is termed, "Chandana cotta," whilst the Polynesian species go by the generic name of "Ahi" (with various prefixes and affixes), which in Fijian becomes "Yasi ;" in Eromangan, "Nassau," and in Tanna, "Nebissi," and reminding one of Ayasru, the name Santalum album bears in Amboyna.*

Mr. E. Deutsch, of the British Museum, a distinguished oriental scholar, kindly forwarded the following reply to several questions which I put to him about the derivation, meaning, and nature of the various Asiatic names of the sandal-wood: "Sandal is termed 'Chandana' in Sanscrit, and is the name of the tree as well as its wood and the perfumes prepared from it. 'Chandana-chala is another name of the 'Malaya Mountain,' a part of the Southern Ghats, whence a great deal of sandal-wood is derived. The name does not imply fragrant wood or sweet wood.--The term 'Sandal' is Arabic, and also used in Hindustani; but does not seem to have any meaning save that of sandal-wood. That the Biblical Algum or Almug means sandal-wood is a mere recent conjecture. The Talmud identifies it, perhaps on account of the colour, with corals. Celsius believes it to be a spurious red sandal-wood (Pterocarpus santalinus), while the LXX. translate it weλEKηTά, weúkiva, and the Vulgate, Cina (Hyedar? African Arbor vitæ ? or a kind of pine ?). David Kimchi, a commentator of the twelfth century, regards it as the Arabic Al-Baccam (almond-tree, Casalpinia Sappan, Plerocarpus santalinus?). But this, too, is mere guess-work. The word is not of Hebrew or even of Semitic origin, but seems to have been handed over by the Arabs, who probably derived it from India. Almug, however, somewhat reminds of the Sanscrit terms, 'Mocha,' 'Mochata,' which also signify sandal-wood. You may, however, rest satisfied that nothing certain is known about the foregoing terms. They seem as if dropped from the sky, and philologists would be obliged if you could throw any light on them."

Until the middle of the last century sandal was exclusively obtained from the East Indies, but after Captain Cook and his successors had made Europeans familiar with the chief features of the South Sea, enterprising traders went in search of the wood amongst the innumerable islands scattered over the broad Pacific like stars on the firmament. One of the first groups visited, chiefly by vessels from Manila, was Fiji or Viti. The sandal-wood of that group, confined to Bua bay on Vanua Levu, and derived from Santalum Yasi, a middle-sized tree, with lanceolate leaves, white ultimately brown flowers, and a fruit resembling a black currant, had long been famous in those waters, and induced the Tonga islanders to undertake regular trading voyages to the place where it grew, and even attempt to transplant the tree to Tonga; where, though it vegetated, the wood was found to be almost without scent. We are indebted to Mariner for an insight into this early intercourse. He tells us of a Tongan chief who had been abroad for fourteen years, and originally set out on a sandalwood expedition to Fiji. Before iron tools and implements came in use, the Tonguese paid in bark-cloth, the sting of a fish used for spears, sail-mats, plats, and a rare ornamental shell peculiar to Vavau. They passed on portions of the wood to the Samoans, who, in common with themselves and the Fijians, grated the sandal-wood on the mushroom coral (Fungia) and used it for perfuming the cocoa-nut oil, so extensively applied by Polynesians for greasing their naked bodies. The white traders who first ventured to Fiji seem to have proceeded with great caution, and never commenced transacting business until chiefs of rank had been placed on board as hostages. Notwithstanding, several collisions between natives and whites are recorded. So great was the demand for the wood in both the Chinese and Polynesian markets that, about 1816, there was scarcely enough left for home consumption. In 1840 the United States Exploring Expedition with difficulty obtained a few specimens for the herbarium, and to save the tree from utter extinction the Rev. Mr. Williams planted one in the gardens of the Bua mission station, which enabled me to describe it botanically. At present fancy prices are readily given for the little sandal-wood now and then turning up, and a log about six feet long, presented to me in 1860, was thought a valuable gift by my native attendants.

About 1778 the attention of the commercial world was first drawn to the existence of sandal-wood in the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, and a Captain Kendrick, of a Boston brig, is known to have been the first who left two men on Kauai to contract for several cargoes. The natives term it "Lau ala" (i. e., fragrant wood) or Iliahi, and distinguish two different

kinds the Lau keokeo or white, and the Lau hulahula or red. Botanists have described four species of Santalum from this group (viz., S. Freycinetianum, paniculatum, ellipticum, and pyrularium), but S. ellipticum and paniculatum are supposed to be mere varieties of the first named, so that two species only remain, agreeing with the native classification. They are spread over Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai, where they occupy stony, well-drained places. Of the magnificent groves that formerly covered parts of the islands, only a few isolated specimens now remain, and these would long ago have been converted into fuel had not the law thrown its protecting shield over them. When in 1849 I visited Oahu I saw merely a few bushes, not exceeding three feet in height, at a place called Kuaohe; but towards the end of last century and the beginning of this, the infant kingdom of Hawaii, then under the able government of the first Kamehameha, exported vast quantities of the wood; and without this profitable trade that king would probably not have succeeded in leading his people, in one generation, from extreme barbarism to nascent civilization. The sandal-wood was to these islanders the start in life, without which few nations or individuals ever succeed in pushing their way in the world. From 1790-1820 numerous vessels called for sandal-wood, bringing all sorts of good things in exchange; and about 1810 Kamehameha I. and his people began to accumulate considerable wealth. In one year near 400,000 dollars were realized. Kamehameha, hearing of the great profits derived from the sales in China, determined to send to Canton a ship of his own, laden with the produce. Extravagant port charges and the misconduct of the English captain and native supercargo led to the commercial failure of this enterprise. The king found himself 3000 dollars out of pocket by it; nevertheless he had the satisfaction of seeing for the first time his flag displayed in a foreign port, whilst the charges for pilotage, anchorage, and custom dues suggested to him the idea of raising a revenue from the same sources, and thus permanently benefit his dominions. Under the reign of his successor (Liholiho), the sandalwood began to be exhausted, though in 1820 we still hear of 80,000 dollars worth of the wood being paid for the barge of the "Cleopatra," and in 1822 of a voyage to Kauai to collect the annual tribute of the wood in that island. But the produce became every day more difficult to procure, and could no longer be demanded in payment of taxes. True, quantities were now and then brought together, but they were insufficient to fill whole vessels as in times gone by. Nor did the discovery of a substitute, Myoporum tenuifolium, a tree from fifteen to twenty feet in height, with small leaves and white flowers, and a scented wood, revive the trade-the spurious sandal proving

useful only for planes. A new chance, however, seemed to present itself, and of this both chiefs and people eagerly availed themselves.

In November, 1829, a vessel arrived, from which it was learnt that in the South Pacific an island full of sandal-wood had been discovered. Its situation was confidently communicated to Boki, the governor of Oahu, who, delighted with a chance of retrieving his ruined credit, accepted the proposal to fit out an expedition for taking permanent possession of so rich a prize. Two men-of-war brigs, the "Kamehameha " and the "Becket," were selected for the purpose, and well provided with ammunition, arms, and stores for colonization. Nearly 500 people, including ten foreigners, embarked in these small vessels. All were going to make their fortune; and so great was the general infatuation that, in spite of the earnest remonstrances of the foreign residents, the expedition started. It first touched at Rotuma, north of Fiji, where discontent, from the hardships of the voyage, began to show itself, and where a number of the aborigines were pressed into the service of the already over-crowded vessels. The destination now turned out to be the island of Eromanga, and the "Kamehameha," having completed her preparations, sailed ten days in advance of her consort; but she was never heard of again. The "Becket" reached Eromango in safety, and remained for weeks, committing outrages on the natives, which led to frequent hostilities, and completely frustrated the object of the expedition. The "Kamehameha" not arriving, and a distemper breaking out, which carried off many of the company, including the commanding chief, the "Becket" resolved to return home. A scene of horror now ensued which baffles description. Crowded with the sick, the dying, and the dead, the vessel, slowly making her way through the sultry regions of the tropics, became a floating charnel-house. The sufferings of the survivors were aggravated by the want of water, food, and medicines. The course of the brig was tracked by corpses, and out of two hundred and twenty-six souls that comprised her company on leaving Rotuma, only twenty, eight of whom were white men, returned home. When, on the 3rd of August, 1830, she arrived at Oahu, weeping and wailing was heard night and day. The loss of so many active and fine men was felt as a national calamity, and formed a sad conclusion of the sandal-wood trade of the Sandwich Islands.

Eromanga, after this time, was constantly visited by similar expeditions, got up by both Polynesians and white men. It appears that the island had just been annoyed by a party of sandal-wood traders, who had killed several of the natives and robbed their plantations, when on the 29th of November, 1839,