KAMALA. 



573 



tlic 



as by the Arabian physicians ^ as early n,s 



r 



An analogous drug is mentioned by Paulus Aegineta' in 

 7th century as well 



the 10th century, under the name of Kanhll or Wars. Ibn 

 Khurdadbah, an Arab geographer, living A.D. 869-885, states that 

 from Yemen come striped silks, ambergris, ivavs, and gum.' It is 

 described to be a reddish yellow powder like sand, which falls on tlie 

 ground in the valleys of Yemen, and is a good remedy for tapowoi-m 

 and cutaneous diseases. One writer compares it to powdered .saffron ; 

 another speaks of two kinds, — an Abyssinian which is hlach (or violet), 

 and an Indian which is red. Masudi,* in the first half of the lUtli cen- 

 tury speaks of qinhil, which he says consists of sandy fruits of red 

 hue. They are useful as an anthelminthic and for cutaneous diseases. 

 A similar explanation of the qinbil is found in Qamus, a dictionary 

 writer in the 13th century in Yemen. About the year 121G, a learned 

 traveller, Abul Abbas Ahmad Annabati,^ (Annabati=the botanist) or 



Abul Abbas el-Nebati, who was a native of Seville, remarks that the 

 dru 



unknown in Andalusia and does not grow there. 



Kazwini,'' nearly at the same period, was also acquainted with imr.?, 

 a plant sovm in Yemen and resembling Sesam; Constantinus Africanuf? 

 likevvise mentioned " huars." "Wars, Wors, Wurrns or Warras in 

 Arabia properly signifies saflTron. 



In modern times, we liud Niebuhr ^ speaks of the same substance 

 (as "luars"), stating it to be a dye-stuft*, of which quantities arc con- 

 veyed from Mokha to Oman. 



Production— Kamala is one of the minor products of thcGovera- 

 ment forests in the Madras Presidency, but is also collected m many 

 other parts of India. The following particulars have been communi- 

 cated to us by a correspondent ' in the North-west Provinces :— 



"... Enormous quantities of Rottlera tinctona are found 

 growing at the foot of these hills, and every season numbers ot people, 

 chiefly women and children, are engaged in collecting the powder lur 



g is known in the Hejaz and brought from Yemen, biit that it is 



exportation to the plains. They gather the berries m large quantities 

 and throw them into a great basket in which they roll them about, 

 rubbing them with their hands so as to divest them_ of the powder, 

 which falls through the basket as through a sieve, and is received belo^^ 

 on a cloth spread for the purpose. This powder forms the ^«'''";"J'^ 

 commerce, and is in great repute as an anthelminthic but i« "^'^'l^^- 

 fensively used as a dye. The adulterations '^^« ^^"f^Y/l. 'nCnt^e 

 leaves, and the fruit-stfalks with a little earthy ma ter, but the \^rcen\^£ 



powder commence here in the beginning 



.s not largo. The-operations of P^J^lX^'J^ Z:^! 

 A similar .owder is collected in ^^n^^^ .^^^^j!^ 



shipped to the Persian Gulf and Bombay. U^s ^^^ --| ;j "X;^; 

 the name of Wars, from Hurrur, a town in Eastern Afuca, >vhicli 



I Adams' translat. iii. 457. 



■Quoted by Ibn Bay tar,— see Sontliei 

 *°S *'"''*"slation, ii. (1842) 326. 585. 



Ibn Khordadbeb, Livre des routes efc. 

 •foitrn. AmUiqne, v. (1SG5) 295. 



* Les Prairies d'or, i. (Paris, 1861) 307. 



6 Quoted by Ibn Baytar 



6 Ed. Lichtenfels, i. («"ttingen 1S49). 



■> Description de VAmhie, 1< /4 l.i,^. 



8 RE. G. Matthews. Esq., of Nainee TaJ. 



