236 Mr. White's Description and Natural Ilistory 



stimulant power. Tliey are seldom given alone, and their com- 

 bination with other stimulants must render their effects uncer- 

 tain. It is not unlikely that the high degree of acrimony ascribed 

 to them by the natives may be comparative only to their own 

 bland constitutions, the more susceptible of stimulus from their 

 simple diet, and moderate and uniform habits of living. 



It would be an object of considerable curiosity, if not some 

 instruction, to trace the gradual introduction of Cardamoms into 

 Europe, and their general adoption as a luxury, or use as a me- 

 dicine. We have reason to think that they were little, if at all, 

 known before the time of Augustus; and the silence of the Bible 

 relative to them, proves that both the spice and its virtues were 

 alike unknown to the Jews, and probably their neighbouring 

 nations. This singular fate of a valuable luxury, and the cir- 

 cumstances connected with it, deserve further investigation. 



I need scarcely refer to the description of Rumphius, as it is 

 so verv imperfect in detail respecting both the botanical and the 

 natural history of the plant; but he disarms criticism and all 

 attempt at censure, by his usual candour in confessing that 

 it was taken from an exotic, which did not produce a per- 

 fect fructification, and of which the species is evidently dif 

 ferent from that of Malabar, and is most likely the Grana 

 FaracUsi. He talks of the roots being tuberous and having the 

 flavour of the spice, whereas the subject of the present sketch 

 is without these marks, the taste of the radical fibres being 

 nearly insipid, and though the leaves, on being chewed, leave 

 behind them on the throat and palate an acrimonious sensa- 

 tion, no aroma analogous to that of the spice is discernible. 

 The accuracy of his information may also be suspected, when 

 he states that Cardamom is a name common all over Upper Hin- 

 dostan. He may have been misled by Armenian merchants, who 



had 



