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tables, peculiar to the country; it is almost unnecessary to mention 

 that turmeric, ginger, and capsicums, are planted, wherever they 

 will grow, throughout Hindostan; they form a principal ingredient 

 in most of the oriental dishes; spices, savoury herbs, and hot seeds, 

 are particularly used in the vegetable curries of the Hindoos. 



The cultivated tracts abound with hares, antelopes, foxes, and 

 jackals; also partridges, quails, and other game; and every village 

 has its monkeys and pea-fowl; the wood-lands, and wilder parts 

 towards the eastern hills, shelter tigers, leopards, hyenas, and hogs; 

 the lakes and rivers are covered with flamingos, pelicans, ducks, 

 and water-fowl in great variety. The partridges frequently roost 

 on high trees; and several sorts of wild ducks settle on the lofty 

 branches of the palmira, borassus flabelliformis, Lin. The bam- 

 boo, bambusa, grows in many of the wilds; it is also cultivated 

 near some of the villages. In Guzerat the natives are seldom 

 distressed for grain; but in many parts of India the poor eat the 

 seed of the bamboo. The bamboo forms an impenetrable hedge 

 round the villages, when thickly planted for that purpose; and the 

 branches uniting at the top, produce a shady walk, with the effect 

 of a gothic cloister. 



The water-melons at Baroche are esteemed the best in India, 

 especially those which grow on a sandy island in the Nerbudda, 

 near the city. I think the water-melon, (anguria citrullus, Lin.) 

 one of the pleasantest and most refreshing of the tropical fruits; I 

 have found them extremely good in the south parts of Europe, 

 particularly at Venice and Naples, where they are very abundant. 

 An eminent physician observes, that " the water-melon, is provi- 

 dentially calculated for the southern countries, as it affords a cool 



VOL. II. 2 G 



