210 
zino salvatico,’? ‘‘ Verzino dimestico,’? and ‘‘ Verzino colom- 
bino.” ‘Red Sanders Wood’? (Pterocarpus santalinus)* as 
mi an occasional swindle. It is related by Garcia da Orta 
(1490-1570) in his ‘‘Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of 
India ’’+ when asked, ‘“‘ How do you know that this red kind 1s 
‘sandal’? and not ‘ brazil,’ for neither of them has scent?” 
an important article of commerce in the middle ages. Fliickiger 
and Hanbury,} quoting from ‘‘ Tarif des Péages,’’ or ‘‘ Customs 
Tariff’? of ithe Counts of Provence in the middle of the 18th 
century, mentions “ brazil-wood’’ amongst other imports from 
the East. Most dictionary articles quote Marco Polo for brazil, 
and Chaucer (1340-1400)§ is early enough with ‘‘ brasil” to 
mean the same wood. One hundred years or so later (May 3rd, 
1500), Brazil was discovered, and the country received this name 
because of the large quantities of a red-dye wood found growing 
e It seems probable that this wood, being of superior 
see Kew Bull., 1909, p. 203). A “Note on the Colouring matter of Rec 
the dye was not known in the ancient times referred to above; t 
na el the present 
time it is apparently of no value, especially since the introduction of 
8 V, 
alluded to by Marco Polo ¢ } hich i 
. annot well be Pterocarpus santalinus, Whe” 
Hag ge to Southern India. Marco Polo refers to two islands, one of which 
1s Necuveran, a name probably covering the whole of the Nicobar group. 
: ‘ 
to ie group which has a red timber known in the trade as “ Andaman ae 
be - (See Prain, Indian Forester, XXVI. No. 10, Oct., 1900, Report om 
the Indian species of Pterocarpus, pp. 1-16.) 
I Pharmacographia, p. eta 
§ Encyel. Dict., Cassell & Co., i. p. 769. 
