8i8 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



The year of the Ainos of Yeso beginning not in the Japanese manner, but apparently in that of 

 Europeans, — which according to Rinsi^e (author of the San-kokf) would be an astonishing fact. 



Arnold useful plants growing on Yeso, Menyanthes trifoliata called " midsugasiba by the 

 Japanese, medicinal; Copis trifolia called "mitsuba woren" by the Japanese, medicinal; A corns 

 calamus called "sjob" by the Japanese, medicinal; and Stilus maritunus called " kasasuge by 

 the Japanese, for straw hats. • 



" In this year" (Burm. hist., and Mason 51), the Chinese invading Ava repelled by king Bhuren- 



Narapadi, also called Dupeyoundayaka. 



1444 A. D. (= " 1 6th year of Gofunnazo," art de verif.), in Japan, the title "sei-seogun" con- 

 ferred on Josijmassa by the dairo Gofunnazo. 



The shiogun Yoshi-masa instituted the Cha-no-yu, small parties of friends for tea-drinking, «' and 

 framed certain rules concerning the etiquette to be observed on such occasions, in order to avoid all 

 excitement, and to bring people into as intimate relations with one another as possible " — (Jap. c. c. 

 107). 



"The same year = 9th year of the ' tching-toung' of Yng-tsoung III." (Chinese chron. table), 



beginning of the Sixty-ninth cycle.* 



"The same year" (Alst. p. 216, and Blair), at Varna, Ladislaus king of Hungary defeated by the 

 Turks. 



" In this year" (Spreng. hist. med. vii. 8), Bartholom. Montagnana writing a portion of his Con- 

 sultations. — He died in " 1460." 



"The same year " (Alst), Joannes VIII. succeeded by his brother Constantinus XII., by consent 

 of the Turks sixty-ninth Byzantine emperor; — and as it proved, the last. 



In this year (Major ind. voy. p Ix), on the return of Nicolo de' Conti, an account of his travel 

 committed to writing by Poggio Bracciolini, secretary to pope Eugenius IV. "About the same time, 

 some men came to the pope from /Ethiopia upon matters regarding the faith" — (Major 34). 



The wild animal hunted for food, described by the Abyssinian legates as having "horns three 

 cubits in length and spiral from the top,"— is regarded by Major as probably the koodoo antelope, 

 Strepsiceros kudu. 



Luffa pentandra of Eastern Equatorial Africa. Called in Burmah " tha-bwot " (Mason), in the 

 environs of Bombay "gosalee toorai "(Graham); and the vegetable resembling cucumbers, mentioned 

 by the Abyssinian legates, — may be compared; L. pentandra is enumerated as seen by Grant in 

 Equatorial Africa. Eastward, was observed by Rheede viii. pi. S in Malabar; by Graham, '-culti- 

 vated" around Bombay, its fruit "one to three feet long ; " by Roxburgh, Wight, and Stewart punj., 

 in other parts of Hindustan (Drur.) ; by Mason, "exotic" in Burmah and considered by the natives 

 "a delicious vegetable ; " is described also by Rumphius v. pi. 147. 



Musat ensete of Abyssinia and Central Africa. A huge herbaceous plant called in Abyssinia 

 " ensete " (Bruce) ; and the tree described by the legates as " of the height of a man, and in girth as 

 much as a man can embrace with his arms, with many layers of bark" between which fruit like chest- 

 nuts is deposited, when pounded made into very sweet white bread, the leaves "one to two cubits in 

 length," — may be compared : M. ? ensete was observed by Bruce frequent in the moist warm parts 

 of Abyssinia, large plantations in Maitsha and Goutto "almost exclusive of anything else" forming 

 " the food of the Galla," its " stem " for " several feet in height " eaten " with milk and butter " is " the 

 best of all food, wholesome, nourishing, and easily digested " (Grev ). Apparently the same plant was 

 seen by Grant fruitless and wild outside a plantain-grove under the Equator, and smaller ones among 

 rocks at " 3 15' N." on the Nile, the leaves huge, and the seeds strung by the Waganda into neck- 

 laces, charms, and tiaras ; no other uses known to his companions. 



Poa Abyssinica of Abyssinia. A kind of grain called there " teff " (Bruce) ; and the " corn and 

 wine" described by the legates as abundant, — maybe compared: P. Abyssinica was observed by 

 Bruce cultivated throughout and affording "the common bread of the country." from which fermented 

 with water " is 'prepared a kind of beer in general request by the Abyssinians " (Grev.). Transported 

 to Europe, P. Abyssinica is described by Aiton, and Jacquin rar. i. pi. 17. 



* Scavola lobelia of the coral-strand of the Indian and Pacific oceans. A shrub called in Tagalo 

 and Bisaya "boto" or "bocaboc" or " panabolong " or " pangangtolon," in Zambales "linog," and its 

 pith cut into "rice-paper " by the Bisayas and Chinese (Blanco) as early probably as this date. — 

 Eastward, S lobelia was observed by myself throughout the Pacific, chiefly on coral-reefs and islands; 

 by J. D. Hooker, on the Galapagos Islands ; and is known to grow in the West Indies (Jacq. amer.) 

 as far as " South Florida" (Chapm.) and the Bahamas (Catesby i- pi. 79). Eastward from the Philip- 

 pines, is described by Rumphius iv. pi. 54 ; was observed by Rheede iv. pi. 59, and Roxburgh, in 

 Hindustan; by Graham, in "gardens Bombay;" and is known to grow on the seashore of Australia 

 and " Afrique intertropicale " (A. Dec). 



