: DIPTEROCARPEH. 195 
SHOREA ROBUSTA, Garin. f. 
Fig.—Beddome Fl. Sylv., t. 40. The Saul tree (Eng.). 
Hab. —Tropical Himalaya, Central India, Western Bengal. 
The resin. 
Vernacular.—The resin, Ral, Dhuna (Hind., Beng., Mar.), 
_ Kaungiliyam (Tam.), Guggilamu (Tel.), Guggala (Can.). 
History, Uses, &c:—The Sal tree, called in Sanskrit 
Sala and Asvakarna, is of interest from a mythological point 
_ of view, as the mother of Buddha is represented as holding a 
_ branch of the tree in her hand when Buddha was born, and it 
_ was under the shade of a Sala tree that Buddha passed the 
last night of his life on earth. The small branches of the Séla 
_ are.used by Indian villagers to detect witches; they write the 
_ hame of every woman over 12 years of age in the village upon 
_ a branch ; the branches are then placed in water and left for 
43 hours ; if any woman’s branch withers, she is the witch. 
4 This tree is very widely distributed throughout India, and 
is undoubtedly the source of the Rosin or Rél of Hindu and 
- Mahometan writers on Materia Medica. Rél, in Sanskrit Réla 
and Sala-veshta, is regarded by the Hindus as attenuant, deter- 
-gent,and astringent, andis sometiimes prescribed inter nally mixed 
With sugar, honey or treacle; as resin does with us, it enters 
into the composition of stimulating plasters and ointments ; it 
is also used for fumigating rooms occupied by the sick. The 
“seeds of the Saul tree are eaten in times of scarcity with Mahwa 
| flowers by the wild tribes of India. Mahometan writers give _ 
@ similar account of its properties and uses. The author of the ._ 
Makhzan-el-Adwiya (vide article Kaikahr) notices the fact that 
‘More than one kind of Rélis met with, but names the Sakoh | 
r Sal as the source from which the genuine article is obtained, 2 
n another part of his work. (vide article Sakoh) he describes 
€ tree, and says that when old the bark becomes separ 
from the trunk by the deposit of Ral beneath ite Ains 
ons three kinds of resin or dammar as | 
Southern India, but is in sonbt ; 
