Foreign Notices. — Asia, Australasia. 399 



the Hesperides in some one, or more, of the places described, rather than 

 in any of the Oases of the desert, as suggested by Monsieur Gosselin and 

 others." 



ASIA. 



The Areca Nut is the Areca Catechu of Linnaeus. This nut is used all 

 over India for chewing with the betel leaf, or the Bltlepfeffer of Willdenow. 

 There are three species of this nut on Ceylon, which grow in great perfec- 

 tion in the interior of the country, and are much esteemed throughout 

 India. The areca nut is to this day one of the most profitable and most 

 abundant articles of exportation from that island. {Sir A. Johnston in 

 Trans, of the R. A. S., vol. i. p. 545.) 



The various Kinds of Pepper grown in the East Indies are enumerated 

 and described by Dr. Blume, in the first volume of the Transactions of the 

 Society of Arts and Sciences in Batavia. (For. Quar. Rev., Nov.1827, p. 658.) 



The Culture ofCidinari/ Vegetables, in the Sandwich Islands, was introduced 

 by Marini, a Spaniard, about the end of the last century. Marini formed 

 extensive gardens, where melons and gourds of all kinds, various species of 

 cabbage, potatoes, and other vegetables common in Europe, were cultivated 

 with great success. {Voyage to the Sandwich Islands in 1824-25, 4to, p. 41.) 



Preparation of Cinnamon. — The manager of the cinnamon gardens good- 

 naturedly sent some of the cinnamon peelers to our bungalows, that we 

 might see the way in which the spice is prepared. They brought with them 

 branches about 3 ft. in length, the rough bark of which they scraped oil" with 

 knives, and then, with a peculiar instrument, stripped off the inner rind, in 

 long slips ; these are tied up in bundles, and put to dry in the sun, and the 

 wood is sold for fuel. In the regular preparation, however, the outer bark 

 is not scraped off; but the process of fermentation which the strips undergo, 

 when tied up in large quantities, removes the coarse parts. The peelers are 

 called Chaliers. {Heber's Narrative.) 



Piney Tallow is a vegetable product, resembling common tallow in many 

 of its properties ; it is obtained from the piney tree, Vaten'a (Abraham 

 Vater, Professor of Botany at Vittemberg in 1722) Indica, by boiling the 

 fruit in water, when the tallow is soon found to rise to the top in a melted 

 state, and, on cooling, forms a solid cake. The colour of the tallow is 

 generally white, but sometimes yellow ; it is greasy to the touch, with some 

 degree of waxiness ; it is almost tasteless, and has an agreeable odour : it 

 melts at a temperature 97^°, and consequently remains solid in the climate 

 of Ijidia, The piney tallow is used only for medicinal purposes at Man- 

 galore, but the tree is common throughout the western coast of the penin- 

 sula of India, at least as far northward as the boundaries of the province 

 of Canara; and there would no doubt be sufficient to supply a considerable 

 demand for this valuable product. The piney tallow has been made known 

 in this country by Dr. Babington, according to whose analysis 100 parts 

 contain carbon 77, hydrogen 12^, oxygen 10f=100. {London Mechanic's 

 Register.) 



AUSTRALASIA. 



Fruits of Neiv Holland. — The Blue Mountains, as well as the whole 

 surface of New Holland, are entirely destitute of alimentary fruits, except 

 the Sorose, a bramble allied to -ffubus fruticosus, and a small berry, of 

 which the Europeans make a very good preserve, and which is produced 

 by the Leptomeria Billardiera of Brown. All the fruits of this country are 

 woody and coriaceous. For this reason, the natives have been forced to 

 inhabit the banks of the rivers, and to follow their courses in wandering 

 tribes, accordingly as the I'esources of the chase or fishing become exhausted : 

 whence arises that absence of art, that profound barbarism, in which the 

 black race of this country are immersed, who drag on a miserable exist- 



