^7^ 0^f VARIOUS EAST INDIA DRUGS. 



DEAR SIR, 



I wrote to you lately, aloni? with my papers on the ma- 

 nufacture of indigo, and of some newly cjiscovered plants, 

 which yield that drn^. 

 f)oai thelau" ^* appears to me now, that it will lend to a useful purpose 

 orshorta to put the Society in possession r.f samples of a very cheap 



robusta. resin, the produce of one of our largest and best timber 



tr^es, oaUfd by thn nat ves of Bengal, snnl, and by me, 

 skorca rohuxta. It is one of the substances used in our 

 Indian naval yards under the general name dammer] and is 

 Its. vges. a substitute for pitch and tar. To bring it to a proper 



consistence for such use, it is boiled up witl» some cheap 

 \-egctable oil, (the Hindoos being foriiidden by their religion 

 to use any animal oil], and more or less nf the vegetable oil 

 is added, according to the purpose for which it is wanted. 

 The Society "ill probably find it also applicable to otlier 

 uses, as it is a pure resin, cheap and plentiful: the price of 

 it here is from three halfpence to two pence per pound. I 

 wish to know, whether it has been yet known in England, and 

 whether it is likely to be in demand. It will probably be 

 useful for making sealing-wax, and for varnish. 

 I am, ray dear Sir, 



Yours very obediently, 

 Calcutta, Jan. 18, IS09. VV. ROXBURGH. 



)aiii>. 



MY DEAR SIR, 

 lF»lack myroba- 1 have now sent to you farther samples of the resin of my 

 shorea robueta; and I have also sent a parcel of the black 

 myrobalans, (myrohulanus IndicaJ, the origin of which has 

 hitherto been unknown. I believe, that they are the unripe 

 fruit of the same tree, which produces the chcbnlic myroha-f 

 lans; and you will trace the cause of my now having disco-? 

 vered the tree which produces them in part 3 of the eleventh 

 volume of the Asiatic Researches, containing a catalogue of 

 Indian medicinal plants and drugs, with their names m the 

 Hindustani and Sanscrit languages, by John Fleming, M.P., 

 pages 29, 30, and 31, which the author sends to you for the 

 Society. But though their medicinal virtues are in high 

 repute over Asia, I do not send them to you with that view 



{ilone. 



