BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., &C. 759 



this and other species was exported from the East in thin pipe- 

 like peelings, like cinnamon. Hence the Latin word Casise rufse 

 fistalarem of Galien, and the Kaa-ias o-vpiy^ of Greek writers. 

 Syringa is a name now applied to the lilac, and by some strange 

 perversity commonly applied to the mock orange (Philadelplms 

 coronarius). Cassia fistula has had a great reputation formerly 

 for the mild laxative qualities of the pulp in which each seed is 

 embedded. The number of authors cited by Hanbury and 

 Fliickiger in their treatise on pharmacography, shows how ancient 

 is the use of the drug. See also Vincent " Commerce of the 

 Ancients," Vol. II. 712. The Malay name appears to be 

 Babini. 



86. Cassia tor a, L. Native of East Indies, China, Japan 

 and Cochin China. 



87. Tamartndus indica, L. This well-known tree hardly needs 

 any special reference, but it may be mentioned that the island of 

 Java owes much of its beauty to the manner in which it has been 

 planted all along the road sides. Thus all the high roads have 

 been converted into cool and shady groves. They are fine trees, 

 and grow straight and stately like pines. I was somewhat 

 surprised to find that the attempt to make similar groves of the 

 roads round Singapore and Penang had partially failed. The few 

 trees that remained had not done well. This was owing to the 

 poorness of the soil in the Malayan regions. The immense rich- 

 ness of the alluvial and volcanic plains of Java can alone 

 produce the stately tamarind trees of that island, which are 

 probably unequalled in the world, reminding one of the gigantic 

 Cryptomeria grove lining 20 miles of the road to the Shogun's 

 temple of Nikko in Japan. The Visayan Indians call the 

 tamarind Camalaguy ; the Malays Assam-kirangi ; the Burmese, 

 Magi-pen. The wood of the tree is usually fibrous, loose-grained 

 and perishable; but in Java, where the trees are well nourished and 

 old, the heart-wood, though small, resembles ebony in hardness, and 

 is dark-coloured with beautiful dark red veins. The tree yields a 

 white resin which is valuable. The Dutch planted Pterocarpus 

 indicus on the road sides in Malacca. 



