28 Dr. Falconer's Description o/" Aucklandia, 



Costus Arahicus. 3rd. Kdot is used at the present day for the same purposes 

 in China, as Costus was formerly applied to by the Greeks and Romans. 

 4th. The direct testimony of the Persian authors, that K6ost comes from the 

 " borders of India," and that it is not a production of Arabia. 5th. The com- 

 mercial history of the root gathered in Cashmeer under the name of Koot. 

 It is collected in large quantities and exported to the Punjab, whence the 

 larger portion goes down to Bombay, where it is shipped for the Red Sea, 

 the Persian Gulf and China; a portion of it finds its way across the Sutluj 

 and Jumna into Hindoostan Proper, whence it is taken to Calcutta, and 

 bought up there with avidity, under the designation of Putchuk, for the China 

 market. These proofs appear to be as conclusive as a question of the kind 

 will admit of. 



In M'Culloch's 'Commercial Dictionary*,' it is stated that"Putchok"is the 

 root of a plant which grows abundantly in Sinde. I have no means of refer- 

 ring at present to his original authority ; but it is probable that this is a mis- 

 take, which has originated in Sinde being one of the countries through which 

 Kdot passes in its commercial transit ; in like manner as it was called Costus 

 Arahicus by the ancients, from Arabia being the country from which it was 

 brought to them. 



In Ainslie's ' Materia Indicaf,' " Kootka" is mentioned, on the authority of 

 Kirkpatrick, as a root produced in Nepal. This, however, is the produce of 

 a very different plant, and has no relation with K6ot, besides the similarity of 

 names. 



Aucklandia grows in immense abundance on the mountains which surround 

 Cashmeer; but, like certain other plants of that valley, its range of distribu- 

 tion in the Himalayas is very limited. It is nowhere found, except in the 

 immediate vicinity of Cashmeer, although Rhceum Emodi, Aconitum hetero- 

 phyllum, and Rhododendron anthopogon, the plants with which it is associated, 

 have a very extensive range of distribution all along the M'^estern half of the 

 Himalayan range. It does not extend northwards beyond the valley of the 

 Krishna Gunga, where I found it near Goress. I nowhere met with it in the 

 valley of the Indus Proper, either in or below Little Thibet. I know not 



* 2nd edition, p. 959, Art. " Putchok." t Vol. i. p. 165. 



