300 An Account of Gnrhwal, [Sess. 



of Gurhwal have a fancy that the poison of malaria ascends 

 as high up a hill as the Bauhinia grows, and that you are 

 quite safe anywhere above the Bauhinia level. The natives 

 of Gurhwal also say that the green-eyed cattle-fly only ap- 

 pears when the Bauhinia flowers, which it does in April. 

 This fly is rather peculiar in its habits, as the male feeds on 

 flowers, while the female bites cattle, driving them nearly to 

 distraction. In sunny weather the cattle are only safe from its 

 attacks by lying down in water. It also bites horses and 

 human beings. Of Ehododendrons, the General only mentions 

 the most common one, the scarlet E. arboreum ; but three 

 others are found in the northern part of the country, which he 

 did not visit — the white E. campanulatum, the dingy-red E. 

 barbatum, and the sulphur -yellow E. anthopogon. He also 

 mentioned Oxalis acetosella, identical with the British plant. 

 This, I myself never succeeded in finding in Gurhwal. The 

 next interesting plant mentioned is the tree, ^gle marmelos, 

 from the specific name of which is derived the word marmalade. 

 It belongs to the orange family. From the tenacious pulp of 

 the fruit of this tree a medicine is prepared, which in India is 

 much used in diarrhoea and dysentery, and which, for these 

 diseases, is superior to any medicine I know. The three most 

 useful plants in Anglo-Indian medicine are all natives of 

 Gurhwal — Chiretta, Berberry, and ^gle marmelos. 



In Icosandria, the General mentions the pomegranate — a 

 most anomalous genus, which has been referred to many 

 natural orders. The fruit is eaten, though, as met with wild 

 in Gurhwal, it is not particularly good to eat. The bark of 

 the root is an excellent vermifuge, and the rind of the fruit is 

 used in dying, and in tanning leather. Though a native of Asia, 

 it was known in very early times to the Greeks and Eomans. 

 The Eomans called it " Punica," because they first saw it 

 growing at Carthage — naturalised, however, not wild. So 

 much did the Eomans think of this plant, that the adjective 

 puniceus, meaning coloured like the pomegranate, became the 

 common word for the colour red. Next in the list follows 

 the common Indian hill-cherry {Prunus paddam) — not identical 

 with our cherry. The Indian cherry flowers in October or 

 November ; the leaves appear soon after, and the fruit ripens 

 in the succeeding April. Its active life is during the eight 



