TAMARIND-TREE. 145 



which are sixteen or eighteen years old, and about twelve feet high, 

 with large spreading tops." To this it may be added, that a healthy 

 tree of this species, now in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, much 

 larger and older than those mentioned by Miller, was not known to 

 flower till a few summers ago ; which prevents us from having 

 before a perfect specimen of it. 



The pulp of the tamarind, with the seeds, connected together by 

 numerous tough strings or fibres, are brought to us freed from the 

 outer shell, and commonly preserved in syrup. According to Long, 

 tamarinds are prepared for exportation at Jamaica, in the following 

 manner. u The fruit or pods are gathered (in June, July, and Au- 

 gust) when full ripe, which is known by their fragility or easy break- 

 ing on small pressure between the finger and thumb. The fruit, 

 taken out of the pod, and cleared from the shelly fragments, is placed 

 in layers in a cask; and boiling syrup, just before it begins to granu- 

 late, is poured in, till the cask is billed : the syrup pervades every 

 part quite down to the bottom, and when cool the cask is headed 

 for sale." He observes, that the better mode of preserving this fruit 

 is with sugar, well clarafied with eggs, till a transparent syrup is 

 formed, which gives the fruit a much pleasanter flavour : but as a 

 principal medicinal purpose of the pulp depends upon its acidity, 

 which is thus counteracted by the admixture of sugar, it would there- 

 fore be of more utility if always imported here in the pods. The 

 fruit produced in the East Indies is more esteemed than that of the 

 West, and easily to be distinguished by the greater length of the 

 pods, and the pulp being dryer, and of a darker colour. 



This fruit, the Hse of which was first learned of the Arabians, 

 contains a larger proportion of acid, with the saccharine matter, than 

 is usually found in the fructus acido.dulces t and is therefore not 

 only employed as a laxative, but also for abating thirst and heat in 

 various inflammatory complaints, and for correcting putrid disorders, 

 especially those of a bilious kind ; in which the cathartic, antiseptic, 

 and refrigerant qualities of the fruit have been found equally useful. 

 When intended merely as a laxative it may be of advantage to join 

 it with manna, or purgatives of a sweet kind, by which its use is ren. 

 dered safer and more effectual. Three drams of the pulp are usually 

 sufficient to open the body ; but to prove moderately cathartic, one 

 or two ounces are required. It is an ingredient in the well known 

 mediciue called lenitive electuary. 

 vol. v. X, 



