10 



OASE Yang-yun district of Southern China. It is frequently used in 

 3^ medicine by the Chinese and has an aromatic and tar-like 

 odour and taste, with some of the aromatic warmth of the 

 ordinary Cardamom. 



No. 11. Malabar Cardamoms. The fruits of Elettaria 

 Cardamomum, Maton, a perennial flag-like plant, from 6 to 12 

 feet high; found very abundantly, both wild and cultivated, in 

 the moist, shady mountain forests of North Canara, Coorg, and 

 Wynaad, on the Malabar coast, as well as in Ceylon, where 

 the cultivation has so much increased that in 1885 nearly 

 300,000 lbs. were exported. Ceylon, indeed, now rules the 

 market in this article. When fresh, Cardamoms are ovoid 

 three- sided, fleshy green pericarps. They begin to ripen in 

 October, and the gathering continues for two or three 

 months during dry weather, the Avliole scape being picked and 

 the fruits dried upon it ; after which they are laid for a few 

 days on mats to dry, the drying being finished by gentle fire 

 heat. When properly dried they are of a pale greyish -yellow 

 or bufE colour. Cardamoms, however, vary in colour, as well 

 as in size and shape ; the shorter, or nearly globular form, 

 are known in trade as Shorts, while the more elongated are 

 called Short longs; they are further distinguished by the 

 names of the localities in which they are grown, as Malabar, 

 Aleppi, and Madras. A well-marked variety is found wild in 

 the forests of Ceylon, the fruits of which are from 1 to 2 inches 

 long, of a dark greyish-brown colour, and containing numerous 

 large seeds. 



Cardamoms are an agreeable aromatic, and are used chiefly 

 as a condiment, as an ingredient in curry powder, as well as in 

 medicine. 

 OASE Note gilded and silvered Cardamoms from India. 



4. A drawing of the Malabar cardamom plant is shown on the 



adjoining wall. 



No. 12. Ginger. The root-like stem of Zingiber offici- 

 nale, Rose, cultivated in the warmer parts of Asia, the West 

 Indies, Sierra Leone, &c. Of this well-known condiment 

 several varieties are known in trade, distinguished by their 

 quality, country of growth, &c. Gingers are either " coated " 

 with the shrivelled rind, or " scraped," having it removed. 

 Ginger is sometimes '• bleached " by chloride of lime, or ** white- 

 washed " with lime and water. 61,732 cwts. of Ginger were 

 imported in 1893. 



