Ranunculacee.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 49 
as well as in the common Persian and Hindoostanee and English Dictionaries, Atees is 
described. as being the root of an Indian plant used im medicine. This the author learnt 
was the produce of the Himalayas: he therefore sent to one of the commercial entre- 
pots situated at the foot of the hills, and procured some of the root, making inquiries 
respecting the part of the mountains whence it was procured. The plant-collectors in 
their next excursion were directed to bring the plant, with the root attached to it, as 
the only evidence which would be admitted as satisfactory. The first specimens thus 
procured are represented in Plate 13, and the root Atees having been thus ascertained to 
be the produce of a new species of Aconite, it was named Aconitum atees (Journ. Asiat. 
Soc. i. p. 459), but which has since been ascertained to be the Aconitém heterophyllum 
of Dr. Wallich. The roots obtained in different parts of the country resemble one 
another, as well as those attached to the plant. _They are about an inch in length, of an 
oblong oval-pointed form, light greyish colour externally, white in the inside, and of a 
pure bitter taste. .That its substance is not so injurious as the Bish, I conclude from its 
being attacked by insects, while the other remains sound and untouched. The natives 
describe it as being of two kinds, one black, the other white, and both as bitter, 
astringent, pungent, and heating, aiding digestion, useful as a tonic and aphrodisiac. 
By inquiries in Nepal it might easily be ascertained whether this has any resem- 
blance to the Bikhma of Dr. Buchanan. © 
Respecting the third kind of Bish, Nirbisi, Nirbishi, or Nirbikhi, the uncertainties 
are also considerable; as we have only the information that it is a tuberous root 
without deleterious properties; while Dr. B.’s specimens of Caltha? Nirbisia are not 
to be distinguished from those of his Caltha? Codoa, which have been shown to 
be those of Aconitum feror in a young state. It is evident, therefore, that the 
people employed did not take the necessary precautions, and, perhaps, brought the 
leaves of the latter plant, because they thought it was like the true one, and it may 
therefore be supposed to be one of the Ranunculacee, particularly as the author, in the 
mountains of Sirmore and Gurhwal, found the name Nirbisa applied to Delphinium 
pauciflorum ; and the roots brought down from these mountains with that name have the 
closest resemblance to the roots of some species of this genus, though he did not suc- 
ceed in tracing it to the particular one; but that which is reckoned the best kind of 
Nirbisi in the Indian bazars is of a very different nature, and brought down from 
Bissehur and from Umritseer, the commercial capital of Lahore. This kind is fusiform, 
somewhat flattened and wrinkled, of a black colour externally, and in some respects 
resembling the Bikh itself; when cut, the substance is found to be compact, and of a 
brownish colour, with a slight degree of bitterness and acrimony. 
The name Nirbisi, with its Persian and Arabic synonymes, yudwar and zudwar, 
has been already applied by Mr. Colebrooke to the roots of Curcuma Zedoaria, because 
they agree pretty well with the round zedoary (zedoaria rotunda) of the shops ; but that 
distinguished scholar, with a caution dictated by his extensive knowledge of the subject, 
observes, that if the drug be not the true zedoary, the synonymes must be transferred to 
H some 
