G A N G E T I C H I N D O O S T A N. 367 



abundance of eunuch-flaves for the feraglios. He mentions 



the China root and ltgnu7n aloes amono- its productions. The China Root. 



firft had, about the year 1533, much reputation in our fliops as ^^^^^^ Aloes. 



a remedy in the venereal difeafes. Garcias ab Orta, a Portu- 



guefe phyfician, who made a long refidence in India^ is the firft 



who fpeaks of it, at p. 172 of the firft book of his Aromata. 



The plant it oiiginates from is the Smilax China\ numbers of 



botanical writers defcribe it. Kampfer, in his Aman, Exot. 781^ 



tal). 7. Gmelin iter, iii. tab. 6. and B/ackzvall, tab. 433. Dodlor 



'Tlmnberg (XQUcYihes it at p. 151 of h\s Floi^a Japonica, :in<\ alfo 



the other fpecies, ftyled the Pjcuch China. Old Gerard, at 



p. 1618, gives a figure of the roots of both kinds ; but it is very 



long fince they have been flruck out of our difpenfaries. 



Among the luxuries of Silhet, the honey is reckoned the mofh Hon'ey<,. 



exquifite, as fuppofed, from the quantity of orange trees which 



grow there, and afford thofe infedts fuch delicious fudtion. 



T^HE lignum aloes is an article which feems to puzzle the 

 botanifts. That which is defcribed hy Gerard, p. 1622, was a 

 moil fragrant wood, which, when put to the fire, exuded an 

 oil ftill more odoriferous. It is fuppofed to have been the 

 Agollocbum of Diofcorides, the Agoligen of the Arabs, and the 

 Xylo-aloe of the later Greeks. It is defcribed by Ab Qrta, and 

 other old botanifls,^ but none can determine the tree to which it 

 belongs. Garcias procured the branch of a tree of this kind fronx 

 Malacca. Rujnpbius, ii. tab. Ixxix. has a long defcription, and 

 print of another, under the n:\xnQ of Arbor excacans. Linnaus^ 

 calls it Excoecaria Agollocha. The former fpeaks of the fragant 

 fmell of the wood, in which it agrees with the Agalhcha, but 



faysjt. 



