THE TRUE SPIKENARD. 149 



growth and preparation of this commodity seem to be among 



the first objects of African industry in this and the neigh- 

 bouring states."* It is called shea ioulou, or tree-butter. 



VALERIANEiE. 



The spikenard of the ancients, about which there has 

 been much learned controversy, has been at length satis- 

 factorily referred by Sir William Jones to a species of vale- 

 rian, named by the Hindoos ja^arna??*?, and which he there- 

 fore calls Valeriana Jatamansi (Nardoslachys Jatamansi, 

 D. C). It abounds in the most remote and hilly parts of • 

 India, such as Nepaul, Morang, &c., near which Ptolemy 

 fixes its native soil. The part of the plant known more 

 particularly under the name of spikenard, or Indian nard 

 of commerce, is a mass or series of numerous sheaths aris- 

 ing from the top of the root, and enveloping the lower part 

 of the stem for the space of five or six inches ; the outer 

 ones fibrous, — the inner ones membranaceous, — and the 

 whole bearing considerable resemblance to an ermine's tail. 

 It is carried over the desert to Aleppo, where it is used in 

 substance mixed with other perfumes, and worn in smalJ 

 bags or in the form of essence, and kept in little boxes or 

 phials like attar of roses. As a perfume its use is of very 

 remote antiquity, being alluded to several times in the Holy 

 Scriptures, particularly in the Song of Solomon, iv. 13, 14 : — 



" Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits ; 

 camphire with spikenard. 



" Spikenard and saffron ; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees o£ 

 frankincense ; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices." 



Considerable quantities of jatamansi are brought in car- 

 avans from Bootan ; but living plants cannot be exported 

 without a license from the sovereign.! 



CINCHON.iCE.E. 



A very numerous order, in which at least five hundred 

 species are now known to be Indian. The beautiful gar- 

 denias are found here, so much prized for their delightful 

 fragrance ; Gardenia dumctorum produces a fruit like a 

 small yellow apple, which, when bruised and thrown into 



* Park's Travels in Africa, p. 202. 



t AfliaUc Researches, vol. ji. and vol. iv. p. 433, with a plete. 5 



N3 



