TAMARINDUS 333 



throughout India, Java and Yemen, and has been nat- 

 uralized in South America as well as in adjacent tropical 

 islands, such as the West Indies, also in Mexico, as the 

 writer found when in La Paz, Lower California. The 

 ancient Greeks and Romans seem not to have known 

 the tamarind. If known to the Egyptians, it was 

 neglected by their authors, although Sir Gardner Wil- 

 kinson (688) states that tamarind stones were found in 

 the tombs of Thebes, a statement not confirmed by 

 specimens of the contents of tombs in the British 

 Museum. The ancient Sanskrit writings mention tam- 

 arind, and the fruit was known to the Arabians as In- 

 dian dates, under which name it was mentioned by early 

 authors, such as Avicenna (30) and others, including 

 Alhervi (2) of Persia. Credit is given the Arabians for 

 the distribution of the drug and its uses, it passing from 

 them, with other Eastern products, into Europe, 

 through the famous school of Salernum. Tamarinds 

 have been used in their native countries in the making 

 of a cooling drink much relished by persons afflicted 

 with fevers, in which direction they have been also em- 

 ployed in medicine throughout the civilized world. It 

 would be well if the modern physician were more famil- 

 iar with the grateful, home-made drink that tamarinds 

 afford the parched fever-sufferer. 



Dymock, accepting that the tamarind is a native of 

 India, gives an interesting account of its history and 

 uses. From this we quote, as follows: 



"There appears to be little doubt that the Tamarind 

 tree is a native of some part of India, probably the 

 South. It is found in a cultivated or semi-cultivated 

 state almost everywhere, and the fruit, besides being 

 an important article of diet, is valued by the Hindus as 



