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Food-Grains of India. 



Job's Tears. 



Coix lachryma, L. 



Synonyms — Coix arundinacea (Lamck.); Lithagrostis lachryma-Jobi (Gaertn.). 

 Hind. — Kauch-gurgur, Saukru, Lechusa. Beng. — Gurgur, Kuncb. Bombay — 

 Kassaibija. Sinhalese — Kikir-rindi. Naga Hilis — Re-si. 



An annual grass, occurring as a weed of cultivation on the 

 rice-fields of Bengal. It is found on the plains of the Punjab, 

 in the North Provinces, and on the warm hillsides and valleys 

 of the Himalaya. It ascends to 5,000 feet on the Naga hills. 



Composition of Job's Tears (Husked), C. 



The nutrient-ratio is here i : 3"8, the nutrient-value 89. 



Throughout Assam, and in the Eastern frontier-lands of 

 India, this coarse cereal constitutes an important food of the 

 hill tribes, replacing to some extent the millets of Northern 

 and Southern India. In Burma the grains are eaten after 

 having been parched like Indian corn. In the sample of this 

 grain which gave the above analytical figures it was found that 

 the edible seed after the removal of the hard and shining gray 

 husk did not weigh more than i for every 4 parts by weight 

 of the whole grain operated upon. The whole grains of the 

 wild kinds are exceedingly hard and are used as beads ; those of 

 the cultivated variety are much softer and more easily husked. 



