pfant "bore, Tsegc^/, anil Isi^nof, 31c 



man's head, is regarded by the Malays as the king of fruit, and is 

 reputed to be the most dehcious of all the fruits of India. The 

 custard-like pulp in which the large seeds are imbedded, is the 

 part eaten fresh, and resembles cream; yet it is accompanied by 

 such an intolerable stench that, according to Runipliius and 

 Valentyn, it is by law forbidden to throw them out near any public 

 path in Amboyna. The smell is said to resemble certain putrid 

 animal subtances, yet all agree that if the first repugnance is once 

 overcome, the fruit is most enjoyable. This fruit is employed as a 

 bait to catch the civet cat; the outer covering is boiled down, and 

 used as a wash for the skin. The seeds are converted into flour, 

 and also used as vegetable ivory. 



DURVA. — According to Wilson, Durva is the Sanscrit name 

 of the A^rosfis linearis, but Carey applies the name to Panicmn 

 Dadylon. This species of Millet, like the sacred Kusa grass, is held 

 in much reverence by the Hindus. In De Gubernatis' Mythologie 

 dcs Plantes, the author states that in the Atharvaveda, the}' implore 

 the Durva, whicli grows in the water {i.e., in marshy places), and 

 which has a lumdred roots and a hundred stems, to give absolution 

 for a hundred faults, and to prolong for a hundred years the life of 

 him who invokes it. The fact that this herb is the tenderest, the 

 freshest, and the most substantial food for cattle, added to its 

 beauty, has gained it respect ; but the Indians think, besides, that 

 a nymph is hidden in the plant. When they celebrate, in India, 

 the festival of the god Indra, on the 14th day of the lunar month 

 Bhadra, they sing and dance, and offer fourteen different kinds of 

 fruit to the god. In that ceremony, the devotees wear, attached to 

 the right arm, leaves of the Durva. At Indian weddings, the women 

 bind together the right arm of the husband and the left arm of 

 his bride with the leaves of Durva. In the Vedic age (and the 

 custom still exists in certain parts of India), before building a 

 house, it was customary to place on the four corner foundation 

 stones some Durva. This plant figures, also, among the ei^ht 

 ingredients which compose the Arghya, that is to say, the symbolic 

 offering of Indian hospitality. According to a stanza of the 

 Panchatantra, the Durva sprang from the hair of the cow, as the 

 blue Lotus arose from the cow's evacuations. The leaf of the 

 Durva is so highly esteemed, that it has passed into a proverb or 

 familiar saying. This leaf is especially attractive to gazelles. The 

 preceding stanza proclaims how happy are those gazelles who eat 

 the herb Durva, for they will never gaze on the face of a man 

 whom riches have made false. 



EBONY. — The Diospyros Ehenastey is generally considered 

 to be the true Ebony-tree. This Date-Plum is a native of Ceylon, 

 Cochin China, and the East Indies. Bishop Heber describes the 

 Ebony-tree of Ceylon as a magnificent forest tree, with a tall, 

 black, slender stem, spotted with white. Some judges, however, 



