1770 FLOWERS 399 
they have acquired the property of intoxicating in a pretty 
high degree. Besides this they have tuack from the cocoa- 
nut tree, but very little of this is drunk as a liquor; it being 
mostly used to put into the arrack, of which, when intended 
to be good, it is a necessary ingredient. 
Next to eating and drinking, the inhabitants of this part 
of India seem to place their chief delight in a more delicious 
as well as less blameable luxury, namely, in sweet smells of 
burning rosins, etc., and sweet-scented woods, but more than 
all in sweet flowers, of which they have several sorts, very 
different from ours in Europe. Of these I shall give a short 
account, confining myself to such as were in season during 
our stay here. 
All these were sold about the streets every night at 
sunset, either strung in wreaths of about two feet (a Dutch 
ell) long, or made up into different sorts of nosegays, either 
of which cost about a halfpenny apiece. (1) Champacka 
(Michelia champacka) grows upon a tree about as large as an 
apple tree, and like it spreading. The flower itself consists 
of fifteen longish narrow petals, which give it the appearance 
of being double, though in reality it is not. Its colour is 
yellow, much deeper than that of a jonquil, which flower, 
however, it somewhat resembles in scent, only is not so 
violently strong. (2) Cananga (Uvaria cananga) is a green 
flower, not at all resembling any European flower, either in 
its appearance, which is more like a bunch of leaves than a 
flower, or smell, which, however, is very agreeable. (3) 
Mulatit (Nyctanthes sambac) is well known in English hot- 
houses under the name of Indian jasmine; it is here in 
prodigious abundance, and certainly as fragrant as any flower 
they have; but of this as well as all the Indian flowers it 
may be said that, though fully as sweet as any European, 
even of the same kinds, they have not that overpowering 
strength ; in short, their smell, though very much the same, 
is much more delicate and elegant than any we can boast 
of. (4) Combang caracnassi and (5) Combang tonquin 
(Pergularia glabra) are much alike in shape and smell: small 
flowers of the dog’s-bane kind, hardly to be compared to any 
