u-o WESTERN H I N D O O S T A N. 



The ule of this nut is, in many parts of India, greatly 

 abufcd ; they are mauc the infl-ruments of philtres, charms, 

 and incantations by the fair fex, and often the medium of a 

 fatal poiibn. The firft is intended to conciUate the affetftion of 

 their lovers, a pracSlice in all ages and in all countries. They 

 are even faid to pofiefs the powers of changing afFedtions, to 

 diiiblve that between man and wife, and transfer them to other 

 objedts. They are next iifed as means of revenge, for the 

 Jprette injuria forma. They are faid to be capable of preparing 

 the nuts in fuch a manner, as to bring on the offending parties 

 the completeft imbecility; or, if they j^refer another mode of 

 revenge, death itfelf, lingering, and diftant ; even to any time 

 tbcfe demoniac fair chufe. The lover falls into an atrophy, 

 and wades away in the claffical manner, defcribed by the Greeks 

 and Romans J when the waxen image was made the fatal incanta- 

 tion. Riunphius records the Indian tales, and feems to believe 

 them. He certainly was a man of abilities, and nothing 

 credulous. 

 Betel, The Betel, its concomitant, is a fpecies of pepper, Fiper 



Betel, a climbing plant, native of all India, and cultivated by 

 props or poles, like the reft of the kind. Neither this, nor the 

 Areca, hath efcaped our old friend Gerard: at pages 1520, 1521, 

 he hath given good figures of both kinds. 

 White I MAY mention other fpecies of the vegetable kingdom that 



Sand£rs. are articles of commerce from this coaft. Such is the Santalum 

 album, Rumpb. Atnboin. ii. 42, tab. 11, which grows to a great 

 fize. This wood has a ftrong aromatic fmell, and is burnt in 

 all the houfes of the Orientalijls for the fake of its falubrious 



and 



