LUMINOSITY. 389 



the flame runs along almost as quick as lightning, 

 becoming extinguished at the top, and diffusing a 

 powerful incense-like smell. 1 



Possibly some of the " burning bushes " of oriental 

 ■story might have a similar explanation. Vague ideas 

 of the existence of luminous plants in India and the 

 neighbouring countries still float about as in the days 

 of the old Hindoos and Greeks. One of these is that 

 in Afghanistan, to the north of Nalwo, is a moun- 

 tain called Sufed Koh, in which the natives believe 

 gold and silver to exist, and in which, they say, in 

 the spring is a bush which at night, from a distance, 

 appears on fire, but on approaching it the delusion 

 vanishes. In 1845 the natives of Simla were filled 

 with a rumour that the mountains near Syree were 

 illuminated nightly by some magical herb. It has 

 been suggested that this might be a species of 

 Dictamnus, which abounds near Gungotree and 

 Jumnotree. 



A third class of examples of luminosity consists 

 of those mythic and uncertain legends of roots which 

 can only be recorded and not explained, possibly in 

 many cases due only to decomposition. Josephus 

 says " There is a certain place called Baaras, which 

 produces a root of the same name with itself; its 

 colour is like to that of flame, and towards evening it 



1 Dr. Hahn in "Journal of Botany," 1863. 



