The Citron Group. 71 



used its fruit in the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, in 

 South India, near Cochin, there is a Jewish colony, 

 established there, it is said, since 490 A.D. The jews, 

 in their own country, in Western Asia, must have 

 used the citron in their Feast long before this date, 

 and therefore, it is not improbable that the Jewish 

 colony, when they emigrated to South India, took the 

 citron with them, and sowed its seed in their new 

 home ; it is a fruit which keeps long without spoiling,, 

 Nevertheless, if India ever possessed an indigenous 

 citrus, it is probably the C. medica proper. 



If the reader will turn to Appendix, No. 58, he 

 will see -that the chdngurd citron what I call the 

 primitive form of citrus was well known in China. 

 From the use the Chinese made of it, it would appear 

 that it was not only an occasional monstrosity, pro- 

 duced on an ordinary citron tree, but probably a 

 variety that always produced that form of fruit. Its 

 rarity may have been due to the impossibility of re- 

 producing it from seed, as it probably had none. 

 About two hundred years ago, according to Rumphius, 

 the Chinese inhabitants of the' Malay archipelago did 

 not know the art of budding or grafting, although they 

 appear to have been acquainted with a mode of layer- 

 ing. This, therefore, may explain the rarity of the 

 fingered citron in China, as stated in the appendix 

 above mentioned. We know, moreover, that not 

 only Orientals, but civilized Europeans also, dislike 

 the idea that a rare thing they may possess should 

 become common. 



Whether the citron had its cradle originally in China, 

 like most other citrus, and came to India afterwards, 

 or vice versa, it is perhaps impossible now to make out. 

 That in ancient times, and especially in Buddhistic 

 times, there had been intercourse between China and 



