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- SIMAR veEm 
with the tree through the ary pains and it is mentioned wi 
- Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Strabo and Dioscorides under ithe C 
name of Persea—vepoéa, Dioscorides says that the dried — 
_ leaves are applied to blood eruptions, and that the fruit ia’ 3 
often infested by an insect célled xpavoxédanrovy, Latin writers — fe 
also notice the tree being sacred to Isis, and Pliny (15, 185 2 
says that Alexander gave orders that the victors should be © 2 
crowned with it in the games which he instituted in honour of. 3 
Perseus at Memphis. The fruit appears to have been occa- 4 
_ sionally confounded by the ancients with the Persica or peach, hy 
as itis sometimes described as edible. Baillon says that 1 
Egypt the ripe fruit is called ‘“ desert date” and the unri 
__ “Egyptian myrobalan.” The African Arabs call the tre 
_ El Heylyg, and use the pulp as a detergent, and the bark 
to poison fish. In Senegambia the leaves are used as a vermi 
_ - initiation of a Hindu by his spiritual guide. Another na 
_ for the fruit is Gauri-tvac, which seems to connect it with the 
worship of Gauri or Isani, the Indian goddess of abundance, 
the earth, the sakti.or power of Isvara or Mahadeva, in whose, 
honour bombs made with the shell are exploded. The festival — 
of this goddess, called Kétyayanivrat, is conducted by women 
at the vernal equinox; an interesting description of it m 
_ the name of the ee festival will be found in Tod’s Rajas- 
2 In all parts of India a boat i is used 
