GRAMINEJU. 559 



close of the rains, about September, wheD tlie grass is ripening, 

 buy it from the Bhils, stack it, and set furnaces at the sides of 

 brooks where wood and water are plentiful. A large pit, four 

 feet long by two wide and two and a half deep, is dug, and a 

 furnace {chula) prepared. On this furnace is placed a copper 

 or iron caldron, large enough to hold from 30 to 5Q pots of 

 water. After pouring in some water, the caldron is .filled to 

 the brim with chopped grass, and a little more water is added. 

 -The mouth of the caldron is carefully closed with an iron or 

 copper plate, made fast with wheat dough. From a hole in this 

 hd, a bamboo tube, wrapped in a piece of cloth, plastered with 

 the flour of Udid {Phaseoins Mt^ngOy Linn., black var.), and 

 bound with ropes, passes into a second closed caldron, sunk to 

 the neck in running water. The steam from the grass is con- 

 densed in the second caldron, which, when full, begins to shake. 

 J^he tube is then skilfully removed, and the contents of the 

 caldron poured into a third similar vessel and stirred. Then the 

 oil begins to appear on the surface, and is slowly skimmed ofE. 

 The distillate is returned with fresh grass to the still. In 

 1879-80 the number of stills was 197^ producing about 71 cwts. 

 of oil. More than 100 stills are worked inNandurb^r alone, and 

 the increase of the manufacture is prevented only by the 

 scarcity of the grass. The oil is packed in skins, and sent on 



bullock back ovpr fhf> 'Kl^^nAulh^Ti Pnaa f/^ Snrat. and bv DhiJia 



Hanmad 



We 



dealers that all the oil of 



commerce is more or less adulterated ; and a comparison of the 

 commercial article with some oil distilled by one of us supports 

 t^s statement ; the adulteration is said to be practised by the 



distill 



informed 



^f turpentine from Bombay. 373 lbs, of grass received from 

 Standesh and submitted to distillation under our own superin- 

 tendence in Bombay yielded 1 lb. 5 1 ozs, of oil. Portions of 



^8 oil were mixed with oils of turpentine, groundnut, rape, 

 ^^ linseed ; with all three it formed a milky or turbid mixture, 

 . . the two first, after standing for some days, became perfectly 



right. We are informed that formerly it was the custom to 



