KAMALA. ^'71^ 



An analogous drug is mentioned by Paulus Aegiueta^ in the 

 7th century as well as by the Arabian physicians - as early as 

 the 10th century, under the name of Kanbil or Wars. Ibn 

 Khurdadbah, an Amb geogi-apher, living A.D. 869-885, states that 

 from Yemen come striped silks, ambergris, ivars, and gum.' It is 

 described to be a reddish yellow powder like sand, which falls on the 

 ground in the valleys of Yemen, and is a good remedy for tapeworm 

 and cutaneous diseases. One writer compares it to powdered saffron ; 

 another speaks of two kinds, — an Abyssinian which is hlack (or violet), 

 and an Indian which is red. Masudi,* in the firet half of the 10th cen- 

 tury speaks of qinbil, which he says consists of sandy fruits of red 

 hue. They are useful as an anthelminthic and for cutaneous diseases. 

 A similar explanation of the qinbil is found in Qamus, a dictionary 

 writer in the 13th century in Yemen. About the year 1216, a learned 

 traveller, Abul Abbas Ahmad Annabati,^ (Annabati=the botanist) or 

 Abul Abbas el-Nebati, who was a native of Seville, remarks that the 

 drug is known in the Hejaz and brought from Yemen, but that it is 

 unknown in Andalusia and does not grow there. 



Kazwini,*" nearly at the same period, was also acquainted with vjars, 

 a plant savjn in Yemen and resembling Sesam; Constantinus Africanus 

 likewise mentioned " hiuirs." Wars, Wors, Wurrus or Warras in 

 Ai-abia properly signifies saffiron. 



In modern times, we find Niebuhr ^ speaks of the same substance 

 (as " wars "), stating it to be a dye-stuff, of which quantities are con- 

 veyed from Mokha to Oman. 



Production — Kamala is one of the minor products of the Govern- 

 ment forests in the Madras Presidency, but is also collected in many 

 other parts of India. The following particulars have been communi- 

 cated to us by a correspondent^ in the North-west Provinces: — 



" . . . Enormous quantities of Rottlera tinctoria are found 

 growing at the foot of these hills, and every season numbers of people, 

 chiefly women and children, are engaged in collecting the powder for 

 exportation to the plains. They gather the berries in large quantities 

 and throw them into a great basket in which they roll them about, 

 rubbing them with their hands so as to divest them of the powder, 

 which falls through the basket as through a sieve, and is received below 

 on a. cloth spread for the purpose. This powder forms the Kamala of 

 commerce, and is in great repute as an anthelminthic, but is most ex- 

 tensively used as a dye. The adulterations are chiefly the powdered 

 leaves, and the fruit-stalks with a little earthy matter, but the percentage 

 is not large. The operations of picking the fruit and rubbing off the 

 powder commence here in the beginning of March and last about a 

 month " 



A similar powder is collected in Southern Arabia, whence it is 

 shipped to the Persian Gulf and Bombay. It is also brought, under 

 the name of Wars, from Hurrur, a town in Eastern Africa, which is a 



^ Adams' translat. iii. 457. * Les Prairies (For, i. (Paris, 1861) 367. 



* Quoted by Ibn Baytar,— see Sonthei- ' Quoted by Ibn Baytar. 



mer's translation, ii. (1842) 326. 585. « E<1. Lichtenfels, i. (Gottingen, 1849). 



^ Ibn Khordadbeh, Livre des routes etc. — ' Description de VArabie, 1774. 133. 



Journ. Asiatique, v. (1865) 295. ' F. E. G. Matthews, Esq., of Xainee Tal. 



