OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



257 



throw or cast (out resin), also to be white, alluding to its colour. 

 In Arabic, Kitran, tar (Kitt of the artillery laboratory), from 

 Kutur, he distilled, and Kedria (Greek or Syriac), the product, 

 point to a similar etymology of Cedrus. The Umurkosh gives 

 Kilimuh as a synonyme of Deodaroo, with others, which put 

 the identity beyond question ; such are " Snehuvriksh " and 

 " Snehuviddh," from Snehu, oil, Vriksh, tree, and Viddh, 

 pierced, impregnated.* 



It seems clear, too, that the Brahmans of Gungotree (whose 

 testimony was desired, p. 78, to decide this questio vexata) have 

 no notion that the usual application of " Deodara" is a blunder, 

 and that the term really belongs to the cypress or juniper. For 

 Fraser (Asiatic Res. XIII. 233) tells us that between Duralee 

 and Gungotree " several trees of cedar were pointed out to us 

 by the Brahmans ; but they were not abundant ; it appeared the 

 common red cedar, and is called by the natives Dhoop (incense) : 

 they regard it as very sacred." Being associated with the 

 gooseberry, the elevation must be great, more adapted to 

 Juniperus excelsa than to Cupressus torulosa: but in either 

 case, " Deodar " is there exclusively understood of the 

 "Kelon." The local and partial application to the cypress by 

 the people about Simla, of the word Deodar, may have arisen 

 from that of " Kelon " to the cedar, and their ignorance that the 

 terms are synonymous. 



With respect to the derivation of " Cedrus" it appears from 

 Rosenmiiller, Loudon, and others, that the Romans knew the 

 Mauritanian Arar or Thuja by the name " Citrus," which is 

 probably the same term, and the Greek KeSpov : thus intimating 

 that the name was not restricted to the cedar of Lebanon, which, 

 however, was also a native of Africa, and is reported to have 

 been recently found on Mount Atlas. Pliny says — " Cedrus 

 in Creta, Africa, Syria, laudatissima." Kedpov would come to 

 the Greeks from Syria, Citrus to the Romans from Carthage, a 

 Syrian colony : indicating the etymology given in the text, from 

 Kudr, worth, value, or Kutur, distillation ; our Citron and the 

 French Cedrat being derivatives. Nevertheless, Pliny describes 

 the process of making " Cedria " in terms which vindicate my 

 friend's etymology (p. 112) from keo, to burn, drio, to sweat 

 or distil: his words are {Hist. Nat. XVI. 21, XXIV. II.,) 



* Another Sanscrit synonyme is " Sniydhuh," signifying oily, unctuous, 

 from Snih. Have we not here the sources of the term " Schnee " applied to 

 a tree which occurs in Afghanistan, on the Kojuk Pass, called Xanthoxylon 

 or Balsamodendron by Dr. Griffith (Journal of Travels, p. 344 ; Journal of 

 As. Soc. Bengal, No. 120, for 1841), and Pistacio terebinthus by Dr. 

 Robertson {Calcutta Journal of Natural History, October, 1841), " Exuding 

 viscid gum, with strong terebinthine odour ?" 



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