Laurinee.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 325 
Cinnamomum, the most numerous in species, contains also the most valuable plants, 
as C. zeylanicum, the Cinnamon of Ceylon, yielding one of the most valuable articles 
of a very ancient commerce, of which the coarse kinds are said by Mr. Marshall to be 
the common Cassia. The natives of India call the former dar-cheenee, and assign 
akimoona (xwvoyovt) as a Greek name, from Persian works on Materia Medica. It is only 
produced good on the S. and E. of Ceylon, in a sandy soil. Dr. Davy states, ‘ that 
the garden is nearly on a level with the lake of Colombo; its situation is sheltered, the 
climate is remarkably damp, showers are frequent, and the temperature uncommonly 
equable.” The cultivation has been commenced in Travancore and Tinnivelly, and 
would probably succeed in some of the territories acquired from the Burmese. C. aro- 
maticum, cultivated in the South of China, affords the cinnamon of that country, 
which is reckoned superior to that of Ceylon by Loureiro and M. Poivre (Fée). 
C. Culitlawan, of Amboyna, yielding the selackal or sindoc hark, which appears to be the 
suleekhe of the Arabs (selicha of Mathiolus, salichacha, Avic. Trans.); has islioos assigned 
as the Greek name; I know not of what word this can be a corruption; it has no resem- 
blance to Cassia. In Hindee it is called kuhela, and considered the produce of the 
Tuj, v. infra. Another wood of a dark red colour, is described under the name 
kusela, as the produce of Nubia, and of which the plant is said to be like that of 
suleekhe, but the seed to resemble that of hilm (Balsamodendron). \Can this have caused 
some of the confusion in the old descriptions of Cassia? Another famed product is the 
Bay-leaf of India, the AZalabathrum of the ancients, for which malatroon is assigned as 
the Greek name in Persian Materia Medica, and of which Zamalapatra (Tamala leaf) 
is given as the Indian synonyme by Garcias, of which he says ‘‘ Greeci et Latini imitantes 
corrupte malabatrum nuncuparunt,” and which he describes under the name ‘‘ Folium”’ 
simply. This, in India, is called ¢ej-pat, the leaf of the tej or tuy (with putruj as that of 
the bark), a name which Dr. Hamilton found applied to Cinnamomum Tamala, growing 
in Rungpore and Silhet, and Dr. Roxburgh, as well as myself, to C. albiflorum, very 
nearly allied to the former, and growing along the foot of the mountains in the vallies, 
from Rungpore to the Deyra Doon, in 30° of N. latitude. Both yield t : leaves called 
by the Arabians saduj-hindee, which’ form so extensive a commerce, and from very 
ancient times. The leaves of C. eucalyptoides (malabathricum, Roxb.) have a strong 
smell and taste of cloves, with a slight tincture of camphor. C. nitidum, coolit-manes 
of Sumatra, has bark with the smell and taste of cinnamon. C. Kiamis of Java, is also 
remarkable for both. Some species are peculiar to the Peninsula, and one, according 
to Dr. Hamilton, yields a kind of Cassia in Canara. The wood of Zetranthera apetala 
and Rowxburghiana, called mueda-lukree, is applied to wounds and bruises. It is a 
little astringent, with a degree of balsamic sweetness (Roxb.); and is used by the hill- 
people as a cure for diarrhea. The leaves are eaten by a kind of silk-worm (Wall.) 
The aromatic and stimulant properties for.which, from the above enumeration, it is 
evident the Laurel tribe are conspicuous, is owing to the presence in almost every part 
of a volatile oil, which, in its concrete state, or, according to Dr. A. T. Thomson, a 
higher 
