TAMARINDI PULPA. 





I 



I 



acquainted with it/ which is the more surprising considering that the 

 tree appears indigenous to the Upper Nile countries^ and that its fruit 

 is held in the greatest esteem in those regions.^ 



The earliest mention of tamarind occurs in the ancient Sanskrit 

 Avritings where it is spoken of under several names.^ From the Hindus, 

 it would seem that the fruit became known to the Arabians, who called 

 it Tamare-hindi, i.e. Indian Date. Under this name it was mentioned 

 by Isaac Juda3us/ Avicenna,^ and the Younger Mesue,^ and also by 

 Alhervi/ a Persian physician of the 10th century who describes it as 

 black, of the flavour of a Damascene plum, and containing fibres and 

 stones. 



It was doubtless from the Arabians tliat a knowledge of the tamarim], 

 as of 80 many other eastern drugs, passed during the middle ages into 



iiUrope through the famous school of Salernum. 



0^- 







Mattha3 



as 



les, tne tree macules ils uuiu m yuuu, v^^-j t^..-. 

 s are gathered Avhen fully ripe, which is known by 

 uter shell. This latter, which easily breaks between 



of a wild palm growing in India. 



The abundance of tamarinds in Malabar, Coromandel, and Java was 

 reported to Manuel, king of Portugal, in the letter of the apothecary 

 Pyres^ on the drugs of India, written in Cochin, January 27th, 1516. 

 A correct description of the tree was given by Garcia de Orta about 

 fifty years later. 



Preparation— Tamarinds undergo a certain preparation before being 

 ijrougbt into commerce. 



In the West Indies, the tree matures its fruit in June, July and 

 Au<rust, and the pods ..., 



the fragility of the outer ^ucn. xuxo .a,...., - ^^-^-^ 



the finger and thumb, is then removed, and the pods deprived of shelly 

 fiagments are placed in layers in a cask, and boiling syrup is 

 poured over them till the cask is filled. When cool, the cask is closed 

 fnd is then ready for sale. Sometimes layers of sugar are placed 

 between the fruits previous to the hot syrup being added.'*^ 



East Indian tamarinds are also sometimes preserved with sugar, but 

 usually they are exported without such addition, the outer shell bemg 

 removed and the fruits being pressed together into a mass. 



In the Upper Nile regions (Darfur, Kordofan, Sennaar) and 

 Arabia, the softer part of tamarinds is, for the sake of greater perman- 

 ence and convenience of transport, kneaded into flattened round cakes, 

 f to 8 inches in diameter and an inch or two thick, which are dried in 

 the snn ^Ur.„ „..„ _!• ^...- -A „„ «.^rJ ,^i.ifA Vilflpk. externallv 



in 



sun. Thev are 



■m 



s 



t!n^^- ^,^^'^'^^^^ Wilkinson (Ancknt Enyn- 

 have' K y '^' ^^y^ *^i^* tamariiul stones 

 hut^ ^^^"'l '" *'ie tombs of Thebes ; 



tio J '^^'if "Iting Dr. Eircli and the colleo- 

 taC 1 ^ Entish Museum we have ob- 

 ^a-ned no contirmation of the fact. 



r 1 1 



V P\f^^' ^OOT ivr'l73.'-The same 



external 1} 



^Snsrutas Ayurvedas, ed. Hessler, i. 



(18-14)141, iii. (1850) 171. .. 



Wpeni Omnia, Lugd. lolo, lib. n. l rac- 



tices, c. 41. .. 



^ Opera, Venet. 15G4. n. ^oX 



^ Opera, Venet. 15G1. 52. 



7 Fuiidamenta Pharmacolo(jia\ ed. belig- 



maim, Vindob. 1S30, 49. 



^Journ, de Soc, Pharm, Lusit, n. (183h) 

 3G. "See also Appendix. ^ ^ _^ 



'^Lunan, Jlortus Jamtucensis, n. (1»14) 

 224 ' Macfadyen, Flora of Jamakay 1837. 



38.").' 



P 



