326 
equally grown in the Portuguese islands in the Bay of Guinea,* 
where it is called ‘ Capim de Gabao’ (evidently because it originally 
came from the Gaboon), in the Cameroons,f in Old Calabar, and 
probably in other places in West Africa. With the Portuguese it 
also went—probably at an early date—to Brazil, where it is 
recorded, in the cultivated state as well as semi-naturalized, from 
the States Porto Allegre, Rio de Janeiro, Minas, and Alagoas, and 
under the name of Capim de Cheiro and Capim Siri.t 
HARLY HISTORY IN THE MALAY REGION.—Having traced the 
‘lemon-grass’ to its introduction into the Indian Peninsula and 
its subsequent spread to the colonies in America and Africa, I 
now turn to its history in South-Western Asia, whence it came to 
the Peninsula. From what has been said in the preceding lines 
it is sufficiently clear, and it has in fact never been disputed, that 
the ‘ lemon-grass,’ as understood originally, is identical with the 
Malay ‘Sereh.’ This, throughout the Malay region, is universally 
grown as a medicinal and kitchen herb. Its history goes back no 
doubt far beyond the arrival of the first European invaders. . We 
hear of it almost simultaneously from the Philippines and from 
Java as early as the first half of the 17th century. In 1635, Juan 
Eusebius Nieremberg,§ a Spanish Jesuit in the Philippines, de- 
scribes it quite unmistakably under the name of ‘Tanglat,’ a term. 
still in use for ‘lemon-grass’ in the Tagalog and Visayan dialects 
(spelt Tafiglad||). The passage, which is worth quoting, reads: 
“Tanglat. It is a herb springing from a bulbous root, the swollen 
base of the leaf tufts, whitish-red without, yellowish within; from 
it rise 10-12 leaves, about 1 m. long, rather rough and moderately 
green; there is, however, neither a (flowering) stem norfruit. The 
whole plant has a scent like that of lemon flowers, but stronger. 
Cooked, it improves the taste of stale boiled fish ; put into wine 
it gives a pleasant flavour, and it imparts a delicious odour to 
sauces and spices. The liquor distilled from it is almost scentless 
until exposed to the sun; but this being done, it usually exhales 
a. pleasant odour, and applied to the face seems to sharpen and 
invigorate all senses and the head.” 
Jacobus de Bondt (Bontius{), a Dutch doctor, who died in 
Batavia in 1631, mentions in his notes, which were published after 
his death, that the Javanese used to add.a small bundle of a highly 
aromatic grass to their dishes of boiled fish to improve the flavour, 
and in another passage that the Malay women diligently in their 
gardens cultivate the same grass, using it for baths and fomenta- 
tions, particularly in female complaints, and he winds up with the 
exclamation : ““ Who would deny that this highly aromatic grass 
possesses still more excellent virtues?” De Bondt does not give 
the vernacular name of the grass which he identified with Orta’s 
‘Juncus odoratus’ (1.e., Herba Schoenanthi), but his account of 
the uses of the grass, and the critical observations which some 
* Moller in Tropenpflanz., vol. iii. (1899), p. 165. 
+ Schimmel & Co., Semi-Annual Reports, Oct.—Nov., 1903. p. 27. 
i Peckolt, Hist. Pl. Medic. Braz., pt. iv. (1891), p. 618. 
§ Nieremberg, Hist. Nat. (1635), lib. xv., cap. xix., p. 343. 
at eth in Bull. Philipp. Gov. Lab. Bur, viii. (1903), p. 110; xxvii. he 
ee Bontius, Hist, Nat..et Med. Ind, Or., Comment. @. Pisone (1658), lib. vi. Pe 148, 
