792 ON THE VOLCANO OP TAAL, 



find as early as the thirteenth century in Ebn Baithar. The specific 

 name jmradisiaca comes from the hypothesis which made the 

 banana figure in the story of Eve and of Paradise. 



It is a curious fact, that the Hebrews and Ancient Egyptians* 

 ■did not know this Indian plant. It is a sign that it did not exist 

 in India from a very remote epoch, but was first a native of the 

 Malay Archipelago. 



There is an immense number of varieties of banana in the south 

 of Asia, both on the islands and on the continent ; the cultivation 

 of these varieties dates in India, in China, and in the Archipelago, 

 from an epoch impossible to realise ; it even spread formerly into 

 the islands of the Paciticf and to the west coast of Africa, | lastly, 

 the varieties bore distinct names in the most separate Asiatic 

 languages, such as Chinese, Sanskrit and Malay. All this indicates 

 great antiquity of culture, consequently a primitive existence in 

 Asia, and a diftusion contemporary with or even anterior to that 

 of the human races. 



The banana is said to have been found wild in several places. 

 This is the more worthy of attention since the cultivated varieties 

 seldom produce seed, and are multiplied by division, so that the 

 species can hardly have become naturalized from cultivation by 

 sowing itself. Roxburgh had seen it in the forests of Chittagong§ 

 in the form of M^isa swpientum. Rumphius|| describes a wild 

 variety with small fruits in the Philippine Isles. Loureirofl 

 probably speaks of the .same form by the name M. seminifera 

 agrestis, which he contrasts with M. seminifera domestica, which 

 is wild in Cochin China. Blanco** also mentions a wild banana 

 in the Philippines, but his description is vague. Finlaysonff found 

 the banana wild in abundance in the little island of Pulo Ubi, 



* Unger uhi supra, and Wilkinson, II. p. 403, do not mention it. The 

 banana is now cultivated in Egypt. 

 + Forster, Plant. Esc. p. 28. 



J Clusius, Exot. p. 229 ; Brown. Bot. Congo, p. 51. 

 § Roxburgh, Coram, tab. 275 ; FL hid. 

 II Rumphius, Amb. V. p. 139. 

 IT Loureiro, Fl. Coch., p. 791. 

 ** Blanco, Flora, 1st edit. p. 247. 

 +t Finlayson, Journey to Siam, 1826, p. 86. Accorduig to Ritter, Erdk. 



IV. p. 878. 



