GANGETIGHINDOOSTAN. 233 



It is faid to caufe fuch an alienation of mind, as to tran- 

 fport a man from the objedl about him, and place before 

 him imaginary fcenes, fo that any thing may be done with 

 him, or before him, without his regarding it then, or re- 

 membering it afterwards*. Thieves are faid to give it to people 

 they wifh to rob, and women to their hufbands in order to 

 commit before them unfeen advowtry not phantajllcal. This 

 alfo is the poifon or philtre which, by proportioning the dofe, 

 is fuppofed to kill or fafcinate in a certain fpace ; a tale long 

 fince exploded. 



As I am on the fubjedl of vegetables, I may fay, that the Sue- Aloe. 

 cotrine aloe is found in Bengal^ and in moft parts of India. 



The Euphorbium antiquorum is frequent, efpecially in Ceylon, 

 and produces, on incifion, the true gum. 



Rice is cultivated with great fuccefs in Bengal', the low wet Rics. 

 lands are finely adapted to its culture. It is fown in the begin- 

 ning of May, immediately before the rainy feafon commences. 

 The firft crop is got in about the latter end of September-, the 

 fecond, and greateft, about the end of December. Its nature is 

 fuch, that its fuccefs depends on a foil immerfed in water ; were 

 the periodical rains to ceafe, Bengal would become a defert. In 

 the year 1769 there was io very long a drought, that there was 

 almoft a general failure of the crops of rice, the fole fupport of 

 the common Indians. A famine, unheard of in ftory, was the 

 confequence, above two millions of people perifhed in the moft 

 dreadful manner; their end was exemplary, no riots enfued,. 

 they died with refignation by thoufands, in the ftreets, or the 



* See Gray's Hudibras, part iii. canto r. note on 1. 321, 322. 



Vol. II. H h highways, 



