SQUILLS 



Medicinal Bulbs 



INDIAN DISTILLING 



Importing 

 Provinces. 



Arak 

 Imported. 



Exports. 



Internal 

 Trade. 



Calcutta. 

 Bombay. 



Madras. 

 Karachi. 



Coast-wise. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. ii., 

 489. 



Bombay Squills. 



gallons ; Straits Settlements, 56,218 gallons ; Ceylon, 56,665 gallons, etc. 

 The quantities received by the different provinces were : Bengal, 477,043 

 gallons ; Bombay, 426,343 gallons ; Burma, 250,879 gallons ; Madras, 

 199,815 gallons ; Sind, 133,832 gallons. A feature of the imports of some 

 interest may be here mentioned, namely arak from Ceylon and the Straits, 

 in direct competition with Indian production. It may also be added that 

 the Indian Amendment Act of 1906, which came into operation on the 

 26th February, 1906, raised the rates of import duty on ordinary spirits 

 from Rs. 6 to Us. 7 per imperial gallon, and on liqueurs and perfumed spirits 

 to a rate corresponding with that on ordinary spirits. The Amendment 

 Act was thus intended to place imported spirits on a par with Native 

 spirits in the matter of taxation. 



Exports. The exports of spirits are small and unimportant, and 

 during the five years under review have dwindled almost to nothing. The 

 total exported in 1901-2 was 78,084 gallons, valued at Ks. 1,20,547 ; in 

 1902-3, 11,986 gallons, valued at Ks. 12,146 ; and in 1906-7 only 134 

 gallons, valued at Us. 939. In addition, small quantities are also re- 

 exported, amounting to 3,768 gallons, valued at Rs. 32,573 in 1906-7. 



Internal Trade. Unfortunately no comparison can be made with the 

 returns either of production or of imports, since the returns by rail and river 

 are made in cwt. (not gallons), and moreover the spirits are classed along 

 with wines (see p. 1119). But the total transactions in 1906-7 amounted 

 to 189,045 cwt., and the distribution of that quantity can be exemplified. 

 CALCUTTA exported 36,362 cwt. (Eastern Bengal and Assam 10,669 cwt., 

 and Bengal 10,252 cwt. ; to United Provinces, 9,636 cwt.). BOMBAY PORT 

 exported 41,528 cwt. (to Bombay Province 18,299 cwt. and to Central 

 Provinces 5,611 cwt.). MADRAS PORTS exported 32,701 cwt. (to Madras 

 Province 23,454 cwt. and to Mysore 7,584 cwt.). MADRAS PRESIDENCY 

 exported 34,617 cwt. (to Madras Ports 16,323 cwt. and to Central 

 Provinces 12,207 cwt.). KARACHI exported 20,467 cwt. (to the Panjab, 

 12,582 cwt.). UNITED PROVINCES, 10,567 cwt. (to the Panjab, 4,740 cwt.). 



A further conception of the internal traffic may be learned from a 

 study of the transactions along the coast of India. The total exports 

 of spirits coastwise in 1905-6 amounted to 1,875,882 gallons, valued at 

 Rs. 58,57,808. Almost the whole of this quantity came from Bombay, 

 viz. 1,744,683 gallons in 1905-6, and was consigned chiefly to British 

 ports within the province. 



SQUILLS. Two bulbs are sold as Squills in Indian drug-shops, 

 and more or less used indiscriminately, viz. SCILLA and URGINEA. The 

 former is frequently regarded as the preferable quality, and is accordingly 

 the one most largely traded in. The bulbs of Scilla are imbricated, 

 those of Urginea are tunicated like the onion. 



Scilla indica, Baker; Fl. Br. 2nd., vi., 348 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, ii., 1074; 

 Cooke, Fl. Free. Bomb., 1907, ii., 767-8 ; LILIACE^E. The suphadic-khus, bhui- 

 kdndd, shiru-nari-vengayam, etc. A small bulbous herb, frequent in sandy 

 places near the sea, in the Deccan peninsula from the Konkan and Nagpur south- 

 wards. This fact is mentioned by Fryer (New Ace. E.Ind. and Pers., 1675, 178), 

 who speaks of the squills or sea onions that grow near the sea on the Karnatak 

 coast. The bulbs are used in India as a substitute for the true Squill, i.e. 

 Vryinea ScilUi, which is imported into India from the Mediterranean, and 

 Trginen inaicn, Kunth the Indian Squill. It grows wild on the sandy shores near 

 Bombay, but can also be cultivated on light sandy soil. Parker (Eept. Proc. Cent. 

 Indig. Drugs Comm., 1901, i., 39, 152-3) says, " The young small bulbs should 



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