POUND ON PRINCE OP W,ALE8 S ISLAND. 3Ql 



several varieties of this plant, distinguished by the size, 

 shape, and flavour of the leaf ^5. 



The Malays reckon five varieties^ among which arc 

 these three. Sir i Ma lay o, S'lri China, Sin U'dang. The 

 cpecimen of which the leaf is above described was the 

 Siri China. The Siri U'dang they say has the petioles 

 and nerves red. 



Cultivated, but in no great quantity. A larger 

 quantity is imported from the neighbouring coast. 



3, Piper Sirihoa. Lin. sp. 41. Reich. 1. 76. Willd. 

 16 1- Flor. Zeyl. 2(j. Swartz. obs. 19. Miller 

 Diet. No. 10. 



Sirihoa Rumph. Amb. 5. 340. t. 1 17. 



Belela quern Sirii hoa vocant. Bont. Jav. 9 1, t. 9I, 

 Ray, Hist. 1913. 



Malay Bad, 



The fruit is nearly as long as a finger, and tastes 

 like the Betel leaf; and hence the name ; hoa signify- 

 ing fruit in the Malay language. It is used as a sub- 

 stitute for Betel, especially at sea^ where the fresh, 

 leaves cannot be procured. 



3. Piper Chaha. H. Leaves alternate, petioled, 

 lance-ovate, oblique at the base, with veins oppo- 

 site : Spikes leaf-opposed, peduncled, somewhat, 

 conical, compact. 



*5 The Mekhzen ul Adviyeh, a treatise on Materia Medica, 

 composed by Muhammad Husain, brother to the Nawab Mu- 

 uuMMED Reza Khan, enumerates the following iive kinds, Maghi, 

 Cang'ir'i, Cufnri, Sanchi, Beiigld. He thus describes the method of 

 treating the leaves, by which they are made tender and acquire a 

 whitish colour. — A quantity of the leaves newly gathered is put into 

 a bag, an earthen pot, or a basket, covered with straw, and placed 

 in a hole dug in the ground. — The straw is set on fire, and allowed 

 to burn till the leaves are heated to a certain degree. The fire is 

 tlien taken away, and the basket left for twenty-four hours in the 

 hole, with a weight laid on it, to press the leaves gently together. 

 It is afterwards exposed to the dews at night in the summer, or xn 

 winter kipt in a warm place, till the leaves become while and tendcT^ 



2 C 4 



