1847- i PeripJus of the Enjlhrean Sea, $rc. 37 



goods, which the strangers (the Sesatse) had left behind them, (6t 54 radra 



SoKOvvres t6t<s irapayivovrai ivi rovs roirovS teal avA\4yovat rh iKtivuiv inrospw/xara.) 



Whether the Sesatse brought any merchandize besides the article which is 

 described as a^a/*7reAiW/ Trapairxfoia. does. not appear from the text. This 

 is the only thing that is there specified ; and from it, the Thinse or the 

 Assamese merchants proceeded to prepare the two articles called Petros 

 and Malabathrum. The words, that refer to the former article, are in 

 the original efyviaffavTcs K<x\d/xovs robs Xeyo/xei/ovs irerpovs. Dr. Vincent sup- 

 poses that they apply to betel, and that the first part of the 

 sentence, which he renders " they pick out the haulm which is 

 called Petros," is descriptive of the process of picking out the nerves 

 or central fibres of the leaf of the Piper Betel, called in the preced- 

 ing part of the text, from the resemblance between it and the vine, 

 — &pa(urc\\vwv ; while he regards the rest of the sentence as having 

 reference to the folding of these leaves with areca or betel-nut, 

 cardamoms, lime, and other adjuncts, into balls, or rather small parcels, 

 which, he concludes, constituted the masticatory called Malabathrum in 

 the text. He is of opinion that the betel leaf and areca nut were pro- 

 cured from Arracan, which he identifies with the country of the Kir- 

 rhadae, celebrated for its Malabathrum, and that the Sesatse, whom he 

 supposes to have been the Tartars of Lassa, were the carriers of this 

 article along with other merchandize from that country to the frontier 

 of China. Dr. Vincent's interpretation, however, fails to explain the 

 circumstances which are connected with the manufacture and ultimate 

 disposal of this article of traffic ; and is not reconcileable with the text. 

 The Sesatse are there represented as bringing the article described by the 

 word w/xa/xTreAtyov, from which Petros and Malabathrum were made, 

 from their own country to a mart on its border ; as bartering it for arti- 

 cles on which they kept a feast for several days ; and as then returning 

 to their country in the interior. Their neighbours, the Thinse, then 

 prepared the substances of Petros and Malabathrum, and brought them 

 to India. The supposition that the Thinse are the people of the valley of 

 Assam, and the Sesatse one of the aboriginal tribes bordering on that 

 country, is in accordance with the statements of the text. Dr. Vincent, on 

 the other hand, represents the Sesatse or Tartars of Lassa as bringing the 

 articles from which Petros and Malabathrum were formed, from a dis- 

 tant foreign country (Arracan) to the frontier of China. But, indepen- 



