No. 39— 1891.] ACCOUNT OF CEYLON. 



265 



I liked them very much, when for the first time I tasted 

 them after my arrival from Banda at Batavia.* 



There are whole fields full of cardamoms : they grow as 

 high as rice, in sheaths, in which they are shipped to other 

 countries.! 



A kind of pepper grows also there, but it is not exported, 

 for it is consumed in the country. J The best quality and 

 the largest quantity comes to our stores from the Island 

 of Jamby.|| There is no saffron, instead of that they use a 

 root called borriborri, of the shape of ginger, and when 

 rubbed on a stone the colour is reddish ; they like it parti- 

 cularly because they say that it makes the eyes clear and 

 bright.1T 



* Mangifera indica. From the Tamil mdn-kdy the Portuguese coined 

 manga, whence the modern form mango. 



f Elettaria eardamomum ; Sin. ensal, Ceylon cardamom. 



% Chillies are possibly referred to. Further on (chapter XVI.) Saar 

 says : — " When I had now been six months at Batavia, I received for 

 my wages two months' pay, with which money I therefore supplied myself 

 with victuals for the voyage ; I bought a large pot full of fruit, which are 

 called ricien, and must be cooked if one wishes to eat them. Some are 

 green, some red, some yellow ; they can be used instead of pepper, 

 and grow on small bushes, as the bilberry does in these parts. The 

 Indians call them rattimires [Sin. ratamiris~], and the other pepper, which 

 is brought to India from other places, they call Hollandes mires. The 

 true pepper grows exactly like the juniper berry, and is quite green, 

 and only when it is dried in the sun does it become black." Langhansz 

 (p. 194) says : — " long or Spanish pepper (which they call ritzhes). r 



|| Jambi was not an island, but a kingdom on the east coast of Sumatra 

 now included in the Province of Palembang. 



f i; The plant, the root whereof is called Borbori by the Javaneses, Saffran 

 di Terra, i.e. Saffron under Ground by the Portugueses, Kurhum by the 

 Arabians, and by the Latins, Radix Curcuma or Curcumy- Root, has Leaves 

 not unlike those of the White Hellebore, viz., thick, long, and broad, smooth, 

 and interspersed with many Veins. The Stalk is thick, and grown up to 

 a considerable height : The Flower is of a Purple colour, and the Root 

 resembles the Gentian-Root. After the Flower comes the Fruit, like a 

 Chestnut, containing a round Seed not unlike our Pease. The Root contains 

 a Saffron yellow Tincture, whence it has got the Name of Indian Saffron. 

 The Malayans Boil and Eat them both with Fish and Flesh and look 

 upon them as the most Sovereign Remedy in the World ; against all the 

 Obstructions of the Liver. Lungs, and Spleen ; against the Gravel and Stone- 



