1770 FLOWERS 399 



they have acquired the property of intoxicating in a pretty 

 high degree. Besides this they have tuack from the cocoa- 

 nut tree, but very little of this is drunk as a liquor ; it being 

 mostly used to put into the arrack, of which, when intended 

 to be good, it is a necessary ingredient. 



Next to eating and drinking, the inhabitants of this part 

 of India seem to place their chief delight in a more delicious 

 as well as less blameable luxury, namely, in sweet smells of 

 burning rosins, etc., and sweet-scented woods, but more than 

 all in sweet flowers, of which they have several sorts, very 

 different from ours in Europe. Of these I shall give a short 

 account, confining myself to such as were in season during 

 our stay here. 



All these were sold about the streets every night at 

 sunset, either strung in wreaths of about two feet (a Dutch 

 ell) long, or made up into different sorts of nosegays, either 

 of which cost about a halfpenny apiece. (1) Champacka 

 (Michelia champacJca) grows upon a tree about as large as an 

 apple tree, and like it spreading. The flower itself consists 

 of fifteen longish narrow petals, which give it the appearance 

 of being double, though in reality it is not. Its colour is 

 yellow, much deeper than that of a jonquil, which flower, 

 however, it somewhat resembles in scent, only is not so 

 violently strong. (2) Cananga (Uvaria cananga) is a green 

 flower, not at all resembling any European flower, either in 

 its appearance, which is more like a bunch of leaves than a 

 flower, or smell, which, however, is very agreeable. (3) 

 Mulatti (Nyctanthes sambac) is well known in English hot- 

 houses under the name of Indian jasmine ; it is here in 

 prodigious abundance, and certainly as fragrant as any flower 

 they have ; but of this as well as all the Indian flowers it 

 may be said that, though fully as sweet as any European, 

 even of the same kinds, they have not that overpowering 

 strength ; in short, their smell, though very much the same, 

 is much more delicate and elegant than any we can boast 

 of. (4) Combang caracnassi and (5) Combang tonguin 

 (Pergularia glabra) are much alike in shape and smell : small 

 flowers of the dog's-bane kind, hardly to be compared to any 



