530 



CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



in the Southern Mahratta country; by Roxburgh cor. i. pi. 20, Wight, and Drury, in other parts of 

 Hindustan, its wood close-grained and used for a variety of purposes, and in Assam for canoes. 



Pharnix sylvestris of Tropical Hindustan. The wild date is called in the environs of Bombay 

 "sindee" (Graham), in Hindustanee " seyndie," in Telinga " eeta," in Tamil " eetchum-pannay," in 

 Bengalee " khajoor " (Drur.) ; and the trees resembling " ficis " and called " occhi," from which 

 honey flows for two hours in the morning, growing according to Onesicritus in the valleys of 

 Hyrcania — (Plin. xii. 18), may be compared (" 00k " being Bengalee and " uch " Hindustanee names 

 of ..sugar-cane) : "phoinikas" were seen by Androsthenes on the isle of Tyle (Theophr. iv. 7. 8); 

 P. sylvestris was observed by Rheede iii. pi. 22 to 25 in Malabar; by Graham, in the environs of 

 Bombay ; by Roxburgh, Royle, and Drury, common all over India, and on the Coromandel coast " as 

 well as in Guzerat and especially in Bengal," is " the only tree whose sap is much employed for 

 boiling down to sugar." Farther East, was observed by Mason "exotic'" in Burmah. (See P. 

 dactylifera, and Arenga saccharifera). 



Asdepias (Calotropis) procera of the Tropical portion of the Desert from the Cape Verd Islands 

 and shores of the Atlantic to the Red Sea and Hindustan. Large-leaved and chiefly herbaceous in 

 defiance of the surrounding aridity, and called in Nubia "abouk,"in Egypt "o'char" (Del.), in 

 Yemen " oschar " (Forsk.) ; and possibly the "occhi" of Onesicritus : — " sukkar eluscher " is 

 mentioned by Israeli or Ishak ben Soliman, Avicenna, Serapion temp, simpl. 50, Edrisi, Ebn Baitar, 

 and was ascertained by Ange de Saint-Joseph pharm. pers. 361 to be a kind of sugar produced by an 

 insect puncturing the plant, the geographical limits of the insect not extending beyond Persia: 

 C. procera was observed by myself on the Deccan, apparently the "same termed "c. Hamiltonii" by 

 Don, Wight, and Graham. Westward, was observed by Hasselquist in the heated deeply sunk 

 valley containing the Dead Sea, and again on the Sinai peninsula ; by Forskal, everywhere in 

 Tropical Arabia ; by Grant, as far as " 3 15' N." on the Nile ; by myself, in Upper Egypt in the 

 Desert; by Alpinus, Norden, and Delile, also in Egypt, its juice employed against ringworm 

 and other cutaneous affections, also a powerful depilatory ; and again by myself, on the Cape Verd 

 Islands. 



•' Brahmanas " were brought to Alexander {Brahwinism being already in existence). The 

 burning of widows with their dead husbands, among the Kathaians, is also mentioned by Onesicritus 

 (Strab. xv. 1. 30 to 66). 



The flute or pipe AYAOS, according to Onesicritus (Strab. xv. 1. 22) unknown to the Indians ; 

 their only musical instruments being the KYMBAAQN cymbals, TYMriANQN drum, and KPOTAAQN 

 little bells, used by conjurers. SKIAAIA umbrellas, according to Nearchus (Arrian ind. 16; were 

 carried before persons of any note. 



Onesicritus obtained information of Taprovane, an island five thousand stadia in diameter and 

 twenty days sail from the main land, but the vessels badly provided with sails and otherwise 

 imperfectly constructed (undecked?); between this and India there are intervening islands, but 

 Taprovane is the Southernmost of all ; — is also placed by Eratosthenes seven days sail South from 

 the Southern extreme of India (Strab. xv. 1. 14) : the name seems derived from the Negro class cf 

 languages, and the descriptions agree with Madagascar. (In later times, the name Taprovane was 

 transferred by the Greeks to Ceylon. See Cosmas Indicopleustes). 



The KHTH:A.AM<I>IBIA described to Onesicritus as inhabiting the coast of Taprovane, — 

 may have been the dugtmg. Not far distant at Zanzibar, a dugong captured by the native fishermen 

 was sketched by myself. 



"325 B. C." (Sm. b. d.), L. Fifrius Camillus and D. Junius Brutus Scaeva consuls at Rome. 

 Victory over the Samnites gained by Q. Fabius Maximus " magister equitum " in the absence and 

 contrary to orders from the dictator: flight to Rome and the intercession of the senate, people, and 

 his own family, barely saved his life. 



"The same year" (Clint., see also Quint. Curt.), after witnessing the bore or overwhelming 

 tide-wave at the mouth of the Indus, Alexander and his army commenced their return Westward. 

 Leaving Nearchus and the ships to follow by sea ; the navigation of the Persian Gulf being as vet 

 unknown to the Greeks. 



Artocarpus mlcgrifolia of Ceylon and Java. The jack tree is called in Tamil "pila" (Yule), 

 in the environs of Bombay "phunnus" (Graham), in Telinga "panasa," in Bengalee " kantal," and 

 its fruit in Sanscrit " tchackka " (Drur.) ; in which we recognize the " mSgalokarpon" tree, remark- 

 able for the size and sweetness of its fruit, on which the naked wise, men of India live — (Theophr. 

 iv. 4 5), also the "palae" tree of Pliny xii. 12 putting forth from its bark fruit called "arienae," a 

 single one satisfying four persons: the "chaqui" was seen in Hindustan by Jordanus mirab. (soc. 

 Hakl.), and the "shaki" producing fruit at the base of the trunk, by Ebn Batuta: A. integrifolia 

 was observed by Rheede iii. pi. 26 to 28 in Malabar; by Graham, "generally to be met with about 

 villages throughout the Concans, the large fruit" an article of diet with the nati\es, "and the wood 



