630 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



Senecio jacobcea of Europe and the adjoining portion of Asia. The I d K U) B I a commended as a 

 cooling application by Leo philosophus med. v. 1 and vii. I, — is referred here by writers : S. jacobaea 

 was observed by Forskal, and Sibthorp, on mounts Athos and Sipylus, and around Constantinople. 

 Westward, is termed "jacobcea vulgaris laciniata" by Tournefort inst. 4S5 ; and is known to grow in 

 moist places in France and middle Europe (Engl. bot. pi. ri3o, Pers., fl. Wett.. and Steud.). 



In this year (=823+ "16 years reign" of the Mahavams. liv.), Mahayensan succeeded by 

 Salamewan, now king of Ceylon. — He collected an army of Malabars. 



"841 A. D. = 'hoei-tchang,' 1st year of Wou-tsoung, of the Thang '' or Fifteenth dynasty — 

 (Chinese chron. table). 



"842 A. D." (Alst.), Theophilus succeeded by his son Michael III., thirty-third Byzantine 

 emperor. Ruling jointly with his mother Theodora — for thirteen years. 



"The same year" (art de verif.), Motassem succeeded by Wathek, ninth Abbassid khalif. 



"The same year" (Alst.), end of the chronicle of Nicephorus of Constantinople. 



"843, March i6th" (Blair, and Nicol.), by the French peers assembled at Thionville, "a new 

 partition of the French dominions among the three brothers : " France being assigned to Charles II. 

 le Chauve, and Germany to Louis II. 



In or about this year (see Renaudot), arrival of Ebn Wahab at Canfu (Canton), " the port for all 

 ships and goods of Arabs who trade to China." A duty of "thirty per cent" was exacted on mer- 

 chandise imported by sea. The houses were "built of nothing but wood and split cane" (bamboo). 

 He found the Chinese "fond of gaming and all manner of diversions," dressing in silk j possessing 

 gold, silver, pearls, and " rich stuffs in great abundance ; " receiving from foreign parts ivory, frank- 

 incense, copper in pigs, tortoise-shell, unicorn's {rhinoceros') horns; making "ware of equal fineness 

 with glass" (porcelain) ; knowing no other kind of wine except that "made of rice" (arrack) ; sub- 

 ject to a poll tax onlv, there being "no impost on lands; " and in times of dearth, the emperor's store- 

 houses were opened. Theft, as in India, was always punished with death ; and "both poor and rich 

 learn to re.ul and write." Proceeding a long distance inland to the seat of government, he found the 

 emperor Regarding himself as one of the " four " great kings : the others being, the king of the Arabs, 

 the king of the Greeks, and the balhara (Indian king). The emperor also held, "That principalities 

 cannot subsist but by lorce, and that the people know not what justice is." 



Sagns laevis of the Eastern portion of the Malayan Archipelago. Frequent in Sumatra and 

 Malacca, and called in Malay "rambiya" (Lindl.) : Ebn Wahab found the Chinese acquainted with 

 'trees which bear meal ; " — large trees full of meal beneath the bark, were found by Marco Polo 170 

 on Java; and Mandeville 18 learned th it on a large isle near "grow trees that bear meal, of which men 

 make good bread: " according to Jack, and Lindley, some of the finest sago of Malacca is prepared 

 from the soft cellular substance of the trunk of S. laevis, and it forms the principal part of the food 

 of the natives of the Poggy Islands, along the West coast of Sumatra. A lofty sago palm, the trunk 

 smooth, was observed by myself planted near Singapore.* 



"844 A. D. = 4th year of the ' hoei-tchang' of Wou-tsoung" (Chinese chron. table), beginning 

 of the Fifty-ninth cycle. 



"The same year" (Alst., and Nicol.). at Rome, Gregorius IV. succeeded by Sergius II., thirty- 

 eighth archbishop. Against whom, bmgo son of Charlemagne and bishop of Metz was sent by 

 Louis II. with an army, to recall him to obeying the empire. 



"S45 A. D." (Pauth. 327), in China, the number of priests and priestesses of Fo (Budha) ascer- 

 tained to be "260,000;" and those of the Ta-thsin (Christian and Magian religions) to be about 

 " three thousand." The destruction of the temples of all foreign religions and dispersion of the 

 priesthood among the people, now ordered by the emperor Wou-tsoung. 



"The same >ear" (Talvi iii. 1), at Ratisbon on the Danube, baptism of fourteen Bohemian 

 princes. — Forty-nine je.irs afterwards, the head of the nation duke Borzivog received baptism : but 

 Christianity did not become "firmly established in these regions until the second half of the Tenth 

 century." 



Walafridus Strabo at this time writing. — He died in 849 (Spreng.). 



Salvia pratensis of Europe and the adjoining portion of Asia. Called in Britain meadow clary 

 (Prior), in Germany "wild salbey" or by some "ambrosiam" (Trag.) ; in which we recognize the 

 "wild salbeyen" &.mbrOSIMTI of Walafridus Strabo, — and " salvia agrestis " of Hieronymus 

 apodix. (Braunsweig): S. pratensis was observed by Tragus i. pi. 4 and litt. Brunf. in Germany, 

 fragrant and used medicinally ; is termed "sclarea pratensis foliis serratis fiore creruleo " by Tourne- 

 fort inst. 179; is known to grow from Britain throughout middle Europe (Engl.bot.pl. 153, Bull. 



* Sagus farinifera of the Malayan Archipelago. — Also found to yield sago, but of a very indif- 

 ferent quality (Roxb , and Lindl ). 



