TREATMENT OF SEEDS. 47 



Nellekai" (Bmblica Officinalis), a fruit which looks like a 

 large green gooseberry in clusters on the trees. Astringent 

 at first, it causes a flow of saliva and sweetish taste. One 

 hot morning, in April, I was informed that a large herd of 

 elephants had beset the cartmen and interrupted their 

 work; everything was at a dead lock, so to stop this state 

 of affairs, I sallied forth at sun- rise, and an hour or two 

 walking, brought me into the centre of the herd, numbering 

 some sixty or seventy ; by one o'clock I had run the herd 

 to a standstill, and had slain three tuskers, the ground 

 underfoot consisted of ashes, as the grass had been just 

 burnt, the swallowing of these fine ashes, added to the heat 

 of the weather, and the exertions requisite to follow the 

 herd, were such as to create a thirst of no common kind, 

 and yet on a bottle of tea, and two or three " Nellekais/' 

 I walked back to camp, feeling none the worse for my exer- 

 tions. I have often, on the hills, in a blazing sun, in 

 January, tried the effects of cold water from a purling 

 stream, the more I drank, the more I desired to drink, and 

 no amount seemed capable of quenching one's thirst; indeed 

 I may say that weak tea, with lime juice (if it is warm so 

 much the better), is the only drink capable of assuaging a 

 raging thirst. 



CHAPTER X. 



TREATMENT OF SEEDS. 



SEEDS require very various treatment. Casuarina and Cin- 

 chona being very light, hardly require to be covered at all ; 

 others, such as Teak and Sandalwood may be buried to the 

 depth of at least half an inch with advantage ; in sending 

 seeds to a distance especially those which quickly lose 

 their vitality, such as mahogany, it is advisable to pack 

 them in damp earth, so that they may go on germinating 

 in transit. Tea seeds from China were brought over in this 

 way in a Wardian case by Captain Mann, and on arrival, were 

 found to be germinating by thousands. The late failure of 

 mahogany seed sent to the Agricultural Gardens at Madras 



