204 DR. ROXBURGH ON THE GENUS AQUILARIA. 



Remarks by Henry Thomas Colebrooke, Esq., F.B.S., F.L.S. fyc. 



The information received from Mr. Dick, concerning the manner of collecting the Aloe- 

 wood, corresponds so nearly with other notices on the same subject, as to afford a strong 

 confirmation of their general accuracy. 



The following account is by the author of the ' Meklizen ul adveyeh,' whose near rela- 

 tion to the Nawab Mahammed E-eza Khan afforded him opportunities of inquiry, of which 

 he diligently availed himself. 



" Uud signifies wood or branch, and emphatically, the wood called Uud Hindi, or, in 

 the Hindi language, Agar. It is obtained from a species of tree found in the mountainous 

 country of Jentiya, near Silhet, in the north-east of Bengal*. 



" The tree is very lofty, its trunk and branches are generally crooked and rather soft, 

 so that neither clubs and walking staves, nor bowls and platters, can well be made from 

 them, by reason of their softness and crookedness. Besides, the tree is in many parts 

 hollow. 



" Until the wood be old and have remained long after being cut down, so that it may 

 decay and rot, it does not acquire its proper fragrance. To accelerate this change, the 

 wood is buried in moist ground, and being afterwards dug up, so much of it as is dark- 

 coloured and of a glossy unctuous appearance, and found upon trial to sink in water, is 

 selected and set apart under the denomination of gharki. Any remaining portions of 

 unmellowed wood are carefully separated from it by means of an iron instrument to 

 obtain the gharki in a pure state. Specimens which sink but partially are termed nim- 

 gharki, or semi-mergent. Those which float are called semleh, or dregs, and are the most 

 common but least esteemed. 



" This fragrant wood is of various sorts, distinguished by the names of Hindi, Sama- 

 durii, Kumdri, and Mandali. The Hindi is of the darkest colour ; the Samaduri has a 

 more unctuous appearance than the Indian sort. The Kumari is of a lighter colour. The 

 Hindi (should be Mandali) is the most fragrant of all. 



" It is likewise distinguished as Bari and Jabali (rustic and mountainous), the latter 

 with black streaks, the former with white ; some, however, reverse these characters. 



" The Samaduri is named from the country whence it is brought ; so is the Kumdri%. 



" In medicine, the Hindi from Silhet in Bengal, of the quality called gharki, being 

 bitter, fragrant, unctuous, and a little hard, is preferred §, because the Aloe- wood of other 

 places does not equal it in fragrancy and excellence. 



" In some recipes and prescriptions, it is directed that crude uud should be taken || . 



* The ' Tohfet til muminin ' says, it is a tree which grows in the islands of China and India. 



f The ' Tohfet til muminin ' writes this Samanduri. 



% The varieties of this wood are denominated from the countries which produce them, as Samanduri, Hindi, &c. — 

 Tohfet ul muminin. 



§ The best kind is black, hard, shining, fragrant and bitter, sinking in water. This is the Hindi, and the Kumari 

 is of a lighter colour. The Samanduri is more unctuous. The rustic and mountainous varieties of it have white stripes. 

 That which swims in water is bad. — Tohfet ul muminin. 



| This direction is to be found also in the recipes of the Greek and Arabian physicians, compiled by Nicolaus My- 

 repsicus. See Rumphius, ii. 39. 





