Great Exhibition of 1851. 151 



They appear as if they had been high-dried. The flavour is un- 

 like that of the best cigars we have, and resembles that of high- 

 dried snuff. They are very pleasant, smoke exceedingly well, are 

 mild, and of excellent flavour ; but not of the same flavour as 

 those we are in the habit of getting in this country. Our cigar- 

 makers will do well to turn their attention to this kind of manu- 

 factured tobacco. 



3. Typha Bread. — There is another very curious substance, for 

 specimens of which we are indebted to the kindness of Sir William 

 Hooker, who has sent it from the important Museum belonging to the 

 Gardens at Kew. These are cakes of typha bread — this from Scinde — 

 that from New Zealand — where they are articles of food, prepared 

 from the pollen of the common reed, mace, or bulrush of those countries. 

 The one which is from Scinde, and which is called there boor or 

 booree, is made from the pollen of the flowers of the Typha ele- 

 phantina, or elephant grass of the country. The other, which is 

 called hunga hunga by the people of New Zealand, is obtained from 

 another species of bulrush, called Typha utilis. I believe these are 

 the only cases known of the pollen of plants being used for food 

 under any circumstances whatever ; and it is not a little curious 

 that countries so far apart as Scinde and New Zealand should have 

 the same most unusual kind of diet. It is also interesting to know 

 that the value attached to this as an article of food is not imaginary ; 

 for it appears from the researches of chemists that the pollen of plants 

 contains an azotozed matter, which, mixed with the starch existing 

 in pollen in great quantities, and with other matters, will give a 

 real nutritive value to this curious substance. Whether there is on 

 record, in the history of ancient times, anything concerning food 

 made from the flowers of bulrushes, I do not know ; but this is certain, 

 that the bulrush from Scinde, which yields the cakes standing yonder, 

 is probably the same as that from which the basket was made in 

 which the infant Moses was placed ; for to this day, in Scinde, bul- 

 rushes are woven into baskets, of the very same nature as we may 

 suppose them to have been in the days of Moses. 



4. Preservation of Vegetables for long voyages. — Preserved samples 

 of white and red cabbages, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and various 

 other things, prepared according to Mason's process, were exhibited. 

 As to the method of preserving them, it appears to be free from all 

 objection. First, it is very cheap ; secondly, as we are led to believe 

 by persons in France who are well informed on the subject, it per- 

 fectly answers the purpose. The mode of preparing these vegetables 

 is shortly as follows : They are dried at a certain temperature (from 

 104° to 118°), which is neither so low as to cause them to dry 

 slowly, nor so high as to cause them to dry too quickly ; if the last 

 happens, they acquire a burnt taste, which destroys their quality. 



