CYNODON. 191 



it is one of considerable importance in Asia. Sir Wil- 

 liam Jones, in the fourth volume of his ' Asiatic Re- 

 searches/ celebrates its praises. He says : — " Its flowers 

 in their perfect state are among the loveliest objects in 

 the vegetable world, and appear through a lens like 

 minute emeralds and rubies in constant motion from the 

 least breath of air. It is the sweetest and most nutri- 

 tious grass for cattle, and its usefulness added to its 

 beauty induced the Hindoos in their earliest ages to 

 believe that it was the mansion of a beautiful nymph; 

 even the Veda celebrates it, as in the following texts : — 

 c May Durva, which rose from the water of life, which 

 has a hundred roots and a hundred stems, efface a hun- 

 dred of my sins, and prolong my existence a hundred 

 years/ " The same learned author goes on to demon- 

 strate that every law-book and almost every poem in 

 Sanskrit contains frequent allusions to the sacredness of 

 this plant, and he quotes from the fourth Veda the fol- 

 lowing conclusion to a fearful incantation : — " Thee, O 

 Darbha, the learned proclaim a Divinity not subject to 

 age or death ; thee they call the armour of India, the 

 preserver of regions, the destroyer of enemies, a gem 

 that gives increase to the fields ; at the time when the 

 ocean resounded, when the clouds murmured, and the 

 lightnings flashed, then was Darbha produced, pure as a 

 drop of fine gold." 



Although called Darbha in this mystic poem, this 

 plant is more generally known in India by the name of 

 Doob. Low-growing grasses are so scarce there, and 

 the European settlers have such a strong partiality for 

 grass lawns, that they are inclined to praise the Doob 

 almost as much as the Hindoos. It is the only grass 

 which can be relied on for making close verdant turf, 



