546 SlNO-lRANICA 



/coXour"ta, xauXife*', and 7a\cry7d; in Russian, kalgdn. The whole group 

 has nothing to do with Chinese kao-lian-kian. 1 Moreover, the latter 

 refers to a different species, Alpinia officinarum; while Alpinia galanga 

 does not occur in China, but is a native of Bengal, Assam, Burma, 

 Ceylon, and the Konkan. GARCIA DA ORTA was already well posted on 

 the differences between the two. 2 



8. Abu Mansur mentions the medical properties of mamiran* 

 According to AcnuNDOW, 4 a rhizome originating from China, and 

 called in Turkistan momiran, is described by Dragendorff , and is re- 

 garded by him as identical with the so-called mishmee (from Coptis 

 teeta Wall.), which is said to be styled mamiralin in the Caucasus. He 

 further correlates the same drug with Ranunculus ficaria (xe\Ldovt,ov 

 rb viKpov), subsequently described by the Arabs under the name 

 mamirun. Al-Jafiki is quoted by Ibn al-Baitar as saying that the 

 mantiran comes from China, and that its properties come near to 

 those of Curcuma? these roots, however, are also a product of Spain, 

 the Berber country, and Greece. 6 The Sheikh Daud says that the best 

 which comes from India is blackish, while that of China is yellowish. 

 Ibn Batuta 7 mentions the importation of mamlran from China, saying 

 that it has the same properties as kurkum. Hajji Mahomed, in his 

 account of Cathay (ca. 1550), speaks of a little root growing in the 

 mountains of Succuir (Su-6ou in Kan-su), where the rhubarb grows, 

 and which they call Mambroni Cini (mamiran-i Cini, "mamiran of 

 China"). "This is extremely dear, and is used in most of their ail- 

 ments, but especially where the eyes are affected. They grind it on 

 a stone with rose-water, and anoint the eyes with it. The result is 

 wonderfully beneficial." 8 In 1583 LEONHART RAUWOLF 9 mentions 



1 Needless to say that the vivisections of Hirth, who did not know the Sanskrit 

 term, lack philological method. 



2 MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 208. Garcia gives lavandou as the name used in 

 China; this is apparently a corrupted Malayan form (cf. Javanese laos}. In Java, he 

 says, there is another larger kind, called lancuaz; in India both are styled lancuaz. This 

 is Malayan lenkuwas, Makasar lankuwasa, Cam lakuah or lakuak, Tagalog lankuas. 

 The Arabic names are written by Garcia calvegiam, chamligiam, and galungem; the 

 author's Portuguese spelling, of course, must be taken into consideration. 



3 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 138. 



4 Ibid., p. 268. 



6 LECLERC, Traite* des simples, Vol. II, p. 441. Dioscorides remarks that the 

 sap of this plant has the color of saffron. 



6 In Byzantine Greek it is y.o.\n\pk or nepriptv, derived from the Persian-Arabic 

 word. 



7 Ed. of DEFREMERY and SANGUINETTI, Vol. II, p. 186. 



8 YULE, Cathay, new ed., Vol. I, p. 292. 



9 Beschreibung der Raiss inn die Morgenlander, p. 126. 



