SALEP 



Consuming 

 Provinces. 



Panjab. 



U. Prov. 



Unrefined 

 Sugar. 



Exporting 

 Centres. 



Consuming 

 Provinces. 



Dependence. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. ii., 

 385-6. 



Early Kecords. 



THE SALEP PLANTS 



Of the consuming provinces it is curious to observe that in 1906-7 the 

 Panjab heads the list with 1,664,133 cwt. ; then comes Bombay, 869,528 

 cwt. ; the United Provinces, 712,559 cwt. ; Eastern Bengal and Assam, 

 603,223 cwt. ; Central Provinces, 487,717 cwt. ; and lastly, Bengal, 

 465,493 cwt. These figures would seem somewhat at variance with the 

 opinions often advanced (and mentioned abo\ T e) that the imported sugars 

 are mainly consumed in the regions of low Indian production. By way 

 of illustration it may be mentioned that the imports into the United Pro- 

 vinces by rail were in 1900-1, 316,722 cwt. ; in 1901-2, 492,921 cwt. ; 

 in 1902-3, 385,125 cwt. ; in 1903-4, 614,355 cwt. ; in 1904-5, 533,580 

 cwt. ; in 1905-6, 752,091 cwt. ; and in 1906-7, 712,559 cwt. These 

 provinces are the headquarters of Indian cultivation, and even there 

 foreign sugars seem to be finding a profitable market. 



The traffic in UNREFINED sugar carried by rail and river came in 1906-7 

 to 9,420,832 cwt : The chief exporting centres (as might have been inferred 

 from the Agricultural Statistics) are the UNITED PROVINCES with, in 1906-7, 

 4,054,814 cwt. : consigned to the Panjab, 1,479,307 cwt. : Rajputana and 

 Central India, 1,395,301 cwt. ; Bombay, 363,912 cwt.; Bengal, 287,866 cwt.; 

 the Central Provinces, 204,988 cwt. ; the balance in smaller quantities. 

 Next maybe mentioned CALCUTTA with 1,958,828 cwt. : to Bengal, 1,005,932 

 cwt., and to the United Provinces, 468,063 cwt. Then BENGAL, with an 

 export of 1,190,857 cwt. : sent to the United Provinces, 380,831 cwt. ; Cal- 

 cutta, 250,230 cwt. ; the Central Provinces, 198,377 cwt. ; Eastern Bengal 

 and Assam, 159,380 cwt. ; Rajputana and Central India, 121,374 cwt. The 

 other exporting centre is MADRAS, 887,837 cwt. : to Madras ports, 361,693 

 cwt. ; Bombay, 215,871 cwt. ; and the Nizam's Territory, 137,659 cwt. 

 We thus learn that Rajputana and Central India were the most important 

 consuming provinces of the gur carried by rail and river, viz., in 1906-7, 

 1,857,989 cwt. ; then followed the Panjab, 1,608,556 cwt, ; then Bengal, 

 1,331,406 cwt. ; next the United Provinces, 920,815 cwt. ; Bombay, 

 822,158 cwt. ; Central Provinces and Berar, 801,722 cwt. ; and Eastern 

 Bengal and Assam, 724,821 cwt. 



Perhaps the most significant fact brought out by these returns is the 

 dependence of Rajputana and Central India, as also of the Panjab, for their 

 supplies of gur on the provinces of India, and for crystallised sugar on 

 foreign countries. Another very striking peculiarity is the small share 

 taken by the Madras Presidency in the returns of internal trade, a circum- 

 stance perhaps due to the greater success of the Aska and other Madras 

 Presidency mills in meeting local demands. 



Coastwise: also Trans- frontier. These do not in any material respect 

 modify the chief features of the- internal trade, and need not therefore be 

 here specially reviewed. 



SALEP. The name given to the dried tubers of various species of 

 orchids, such as Eulophia (D.E.P., iii., 290-1) and Orchis (D.E.P., v., 

 492-3). It is commonly known in India as salab- (or salep) misri (= Salep 

 of Egypt). 



According to the authors of Hobson-Jobson, salep is correctly identified by 

 Ibn Baithar with the satyrium of Dioscorides and Galen. Perhaps the earliest 

 reference to salep, in connection with India, is to be found in the Voyages of Ibn 

 Batuta, of date 1340 (French ed., 1855, iii., 382), where amongst the provisions 

 given to the travellers by the Sultan of Delhi, salip is mentioned. Again, Alex- 

 ander Hamilton (New Ace. E. Ind., 1727, i., 124-5) speaking of Tatta on the 



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