OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 369 



Not later than "303 B. C." (Clinton iii. p. 482, see also C. Mull, fragm. Meg. p. 398), Megas- 

 thenes sent as ambassador to king Sandrocottus or Chandragupta at Palimbothra on the Ganges — 

 (regarded as identical with Pataliputtra). 



The art of writing, according to Megasthenes, was unknown among the Indians ; a statement 

 denied by others. He also found the ideas of the "Brahmanes" or Bramins agreeing in many 

 respects with those of. the Greeks ; as in regard to the origin of the world, its spherical shape, and 

 the omnipresence of its author and governor " theos " (Strab. xv. 1. 53, 59, and 67); but "like 

 Plato," maintaining the " immortality of the soul and judgment after death." 



"Serpents large enough to swallow deer and bullocks," are mentioned by Megasthenes, — and 

 some years later, by Deimachus (Strab. ii. 1. 9, Plin. viii. 14. I, and Aelian xvi. 22) ; evidently species 

 of Python or Indian boa. 



Alusa nov. sp. of Tropical Hindustan. Almost stemless, dying to the ground each season, 

 and called in the environs of Bombay "cowdera" or " ran-khela " (Graham); the TAAA tree on 

 whose bark, Megasthenes was informed, the aboriginal inhabitants of India subsisted, — may be 

 compared : Musa nov. sp. was observed by Graham " common on the Ghauts and hilly parts of the 

 Concan during the rains," the leaves "used for thatching houses," and the bulb or stem boiled and 

 eaten, the poor people about Hurrychundarghur are mentioned by Gibson as having subsisted for 

 two months entirely " on the inner rind and heart of " this bulb ; which according to Davis is some- 

 times " dried and pounded into a kind of flower of which cakes are made." The " M. superba " wild 

 in the Dindigul valleys, and observed by Drury at high elevations "on the mountains in Travancore" 

 is perhaps identical. 



Sterculia villosa of Tropical Hindustan. Called in Tamil " odul " or " oadal " (Drur.) ; and 

 possibly included among the trees furnishing the bark with which certain Bramins seen by Megas- 

 thenes were clothed — (Strab. xv. 1. 60): assuming the coat of bark, is mentioned by Kalidasa 

 vicram. 5 : S. villosa was observed by Nimmo in the Concan South of Bombay (Graham) ; by Rox- 

 burgh, Royle, and Wight, in other parts of the peninsula and as far as Assam, bags and ropes made 

 of the bark, which is easily stripped off the whole length of the tree, and the ropes used by all ele- 

 phant-hunters in the Himalaya as well as in the Annamallay forests (Drur.). S. guttata, whose 

 tough and pliable inner bark is converted into a flaxy substance of which clothing is made (Drur.), 

 his been already noticed. 



Grewia oppositifolia of Tropical Hindustan. Perhaps included among the trees furnishing the 

 bark clothing — (Strab. xv. 1. 60): G. oppositifolia was observed by Buchanan, Roxburgh, and 

 Royle, in the Kheree Pass and Dheyra Dhoon, the inner bark used for cordage and coarse cloth ; by 

 Powell, and Stewart, in the Punjaub, the bark made into sandals, but the chief value of the tree con- 

 sisting in its leaves which largely serve as fodder (Drur.). 



Antiaris saccidora of Western Hindustan. A majestic forest-tree called in the environs of 

 Bombay " chandul " (Graham), in the Northern Concan " kurwut " or "juzoogry," in Malabar 

 "araya-angeli," in Tamil " nettavil-marum " (Drur.); and possibly among the trees furnishing the 

 bark clothing — (Strab. xv. 1. 60) : A. saccidora was observed by Lush " in 1837 " in the deep ravines 

 at Kandalla, is termed by Nimmo "lepurandra," and according to Graham "is common in the jungles 

 near Coorg," the bark so flexible that by beating with water it can be inverted and the branch sawed 

 off, and a sack formed by leaving a short untouched segment for the bottom ; was observed by Drury 

 and others as far as Malabar and Travancore, pieces of the bark soaked and beaten used by the hill- 

 people as clothing. 



Celtis Oiientalis of Hindustan. The Indian nettle-tree is called in Bengalee " chakan-tubunna " 

 (Drur.); and is perhaps one of the trees furnishing the bark clothing — (Strab. xv. 1. 60) : the 

 "jivanti " of Susrutas sutr. 19 to chikits. 37, is referred here by Hessler: C. Orientalis was observed 

 by Rheede iv. pi. 40 in Malabar; by Graham, "common along the foot of the Ghauts" as far as 

 Bombay ; by Retz, Roxburgh, Buchanan, and Royle, in mountainous situations common throughout 

 to Travancore, Bengal, and Assam, where the inner bark forming a kind of natural or primitive cloth 

 is worn by the Garrows (Pers., and Drur.). 



Calamus rotanr of Tropical Hindustan. The ratlan is called in Telinga " bettam," in Bengalee 

 and Hindustanee "beta" or "bet" (Drur.); and the EYKAMIIEIC branches of trees, flexible 

 enough to make hoops, seen in India by Megasthenes — (....), may be compared : C. rotang was 

 observed by Rheede xii. pi. 64 in Malabar; by Lush, and Graham, nearly as far as Bombay; by 

 Roxburgh iii. 777, and Drury, in other parts of the peninsula and frequent in Coromandel and Ben- 

 gal, believed to be the stouter of the different kinds of rattan exported from the valleys of the Hima- 

 laya. ; by Burmann, on Ceylon (Steud.). Farther East, is termed " c. petraeus " by Loureiro p. 260. 

 (Pers. and Steud.). By European colonists, was carried to the Mauritius Islands, observed in gar- 

 dens there by Bojer. (See C. rudentum.) 



Calamus exlensus of Eastern Hindustan. The KAAAMOYC:XAMAIKAINEIC procumbent 



47 



