232 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



In Sylhet, Mr. Stevenson thinks they have the 

 mandarin orange. But if they had the real thing, it 

 would have long ago attracted notice in Calcutta, 

 whereas I have never heard of, or seen it there. 



Sir C. F. Bonham, in his letter from Cintra, says 

 that Sir Francis Cook further tells him, " That the 

 Tangerine orange, so called, is evidently the mandarin 

 orange, also from China,* and bears that name 

 because it was a much more rare fruit, and only within 

 the reach of mandarins and grandees." Not impro- 

 bably however, it was given that name for the same 

 reason that the Khasias give some fruits the distinctive 

 name of Raja (sim), as being the best of their kind. 



The yhambiri. For this name, a Sanskrit origin is 

 claimed. The Pundits of Benares say it is mentioned 

 in the madun pal nig hunt, a book on medicine, about 

 531 years old. Therein is stated that ti\zjkambirikci 

 (meaning the small jhamblri) "puts the teeth on edge 

 (dantdn sk&tk&tt), but it quenches thirst, and stops 

 vomiting." By the mention of a small jhambwi, it 

 is presumable there was another variety which was 

 larger, and went by the same name. Whether by 

 jkamblri* the kaghzi nimboo or lime proper of 

 moderns is meant, it is impossible to say. 



Prof. Cowell of Cambridge states that jambhlra 

 also occurs in the Amarakosha, the oldest Sanskrit 

 dictionary, of about the eighth or ninth century A.D. 



Baber, 300 years ago, also mentions the jhambiri, 

 but by that he evidently means the one I have 

 described in the chapter on the jhambiri group, and 

 figured in pis. 131 and 132, and not the true-lime, or 

 kaghzt-nimboo, for he distinctly says "it is like an 

 orange, but is not an orange." In Rumphius' Flor. 



* In Seville they grow two oranges. The Seville or bitter orange, 

 and the small China, which is probably no other than the mandarin. 



