278 KHUS-KHUS GRASS. 



Another remarkable scented grass indigenous to 

 British India, is the deliciously perfumed Khus-Khus 

 grass of Rajpootana (Andropogon Muricatus], of which 

 mats and other fabrics are made. It is a very coarse, 

 woody fibred plant; things made of it are sometimes 

 sold in London, in the form of fans and other small 

 articles. Its peculiarity is that when it is wetted it 

 emits a delicious aromatic fragrance, something after 

 the same kind as sandal wood, which quite perfumes 

 the air of houses. It is therefore much used in the 

 form of mats, for hanging across doorways, verandahs, 

 etc., in India, during the hot weather, where, as it is 

 then constantly kept wetted with water, it fills the 

 adjacent rooms with its fragrance. The practice is 

 however not one that ought to be encouraged 

 among Europeans, as the cold damp air, though 

 pleasant at the time, is apt to cause chills, which 

 lead to rheumatism and congestion of the visceral 

 organs, etc. 



In nearly all works of African travel we read of the 

 density of the great grass jungles of the interior of 

 that continent, which vary from three or four feet in 

 height on the plains, up to gigantic arborescent grasses 

 which render some countries very difficult of access, 

 during, and after, the rainy seasons. Emin Pasha 

 among others has made frequent mention of these 

 great tracts of grass forest, which wherever there 

 is an accumulation of water without heavy timber, 

 seem to take the place of trees, and form impene- 

 trable coverts, so dense that considerable strength 

 has to be used to enable a man to force his way 

 through, while masses of reeds of imposing height, 

 springing up between the other grasses, often 



