[ "3 ] 



VIII. 



Defcription of the Tree called, by the 

 Burmas, Launzan. 



BY 



FRANCIS BUCHANAN, Esq. M. D. 



BEFORE my fetting out to accompany the late de- 

 putation to the court of Ava> I received fome 

 feeds, which had been fent to Sir John Shore from 

 Pegue. It was conceived that they might be ufefully 

 employed to yield oil, with which they feemed to 

 abound: I was therefore particular in making my en- 

 quiries after the plant producing them. I foon learned 

 that they were produced only in the upper provinces of 

 the kingdom; and, on my arrival there, I found my- 

 felf ftill at a diftance from the tree on which they grow. 

 It is faid only to be found on the mountains; and thefe 

 I had no where an opportunity of examining. With 

 fome difficulty, however, I procured, whilft at Amera- 

 foorciy fome young moots, with abundance of the 

 flowers, and feveral young plants in a growing ftate : 

 and while at Pagam, on our return, I procured many 

 branches with the young fruit. Unluckily, all the 

 young plants died before I reached Bengal; otherwife, 

 I believe, they might have been an acquifition of fome 

 value. The tree is faid to be very lofty; and, from 

 what I faw, muft produce immenfe quantities of the 

 fruit ; as may readily be conceived from looking at the 

 drawings; where it muft be obferved, that the fruit- 

 bearing branch has had by far the greater! part of its 

 produce fhaken off by the carriage. In times of plenty, 

 little ufe is made of the fruit, except for yielding oil, 



as 



