290 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



servant of his died with symptoms resembling those of cholera after 

 taking a decoction of a single fruit as a purgative. The fruit is 

 about the size of a small nutmeg and thickly set with long- soft 

 spines. 



Benincasa cerifera (in Sanskrit Kushmanda, in Marathi Kohola), 

 bears a large pale green gourd, which has a great reputation among 

 the Hindus ; when ripe it is covered with a waxy white bloom, and 

 is thought to possess valuable medicinal properties, and to be a spe- 

 cific for spitting of blood and other internal haemorrhages. The 

 fruit should be at least a year old before it is used for making the 

 medicinal confection known as Khanda Kushmandaka. The pulp is 

 scraped out and the watery juice, which exudes during the process, 

 is preserved ; the pulp is then boiled in its own juice, strained and 

 dried in the sun ; it is then fried in glii and again boiled in the juice 

 which was strained from it, until reduced to the consistence of honey. 

 Sugar, spices and honey are now added over a gentle fire, and the 

 confection, after being well stirred, is fit for use. The dose is from 

 one to two tolas. This gourd is also used as a vegetable like Lcuje- 

 naria, and the pulp, after being boiled, is mixed with flour and 

 molasses and made into small lumps (Vati, Sanskrit; Vadi, Marathi) 

 and fried in ghi or oil ; they are considered to be highly nutritive. 



Of the four species of Momordica which occur in Western India, 

 none are used by Europeans, but M. Charantia and M. clioica are used 

 as vegetables by the Natives. The first is the muricated fruit like 

 a crocodile's back called Karala in Marathi ; it is very bitter, but 

 wholesome, and requires to be steeped in salt and water before it is 

 cooked. It tastes best when cut in transverse slices, dipped in a cream 

 made of spices and gram flour, and fried in butter. The Sanskrit 

 name is KaravcUa, and the gourd bears the synonym Kandira or 

 " armed with arrows." I have already shown how it may be uti- 

 lized in combination with the bottle-gourd in European cookery. 



The softly spinous fruit of M. dioica (in Marathi Karfali or Karan- 

 toli; and in Sanskrit Vahasa or Karkotaka), when cultivated loses its 

 bitterness, and is in common use as a vegetable ; it is dressed like 

 M. Charantia, and is by no means to be despised. The fruit of the 

 wild plant is bitter, and its tuberous roots, which are not bitter, are 

 used medicinally in bowel complaints ; and in the Konkan their juice 



