354 



SALEP. 



Eetained for home 

 Imports. consumption, 

 lbs. lbs. 



1826 318,830 .... 358,007 



1830 449,723 ol6,o87 



1834 837,811 735,190 



1835 287,966 895,406 



1838 404,738 434,574 



1839 303,489 224,792 



3 840 408,469 330,490 



1841 ; 454,893 



1842 890,736 846.832 



1846 905,072 981,120 



1847 1,185,968 1,211,168 



1848 906,304 933.744 



1849 1,036,185 1,032,992 



1850 1,789,774 1,414,669 



1851 2,083,681 1,848,778 



1852 2,139,390 2,024,316 



Salep is tlie prepared and dried roots of several orchideoiis 

 plants, and is sometimes sold in tlie state of powder. Indigenous 

 salep is procured, according to Dr. Perceval from Orchis mascida^ 

 O. latifolia, O. morio, and other native plants of this order. On 

 the continent it is obtained from O. -papilionaceo, and milifaris. 

 Oriental salep is procured from other orchideoe. Professor Eoyle 

 states that the salep of Kashmir is obtained from a species of 

 Eulophia, probably E. virens. Salep is also obtained from the 

 tuberous roots of Tacca pinnaiifida, and other species of the same 

 genus, which are principally natives of the East Indies and the 

 (South Sea Islands. 



The large fleshy tubers of tacca, when scraped and frequently 

 washed, yield a nutritious fecula resembling arrowroot. 



Salep consists chiefly of bassorin, some soluble gum, and a little 

 starch. It forms an article of diet fitted for convalescents when 

 boiled with water or milk. The price of salep is about eight guineas 

 per cwt. in the London market. A little is exported from Constan- 

 tinople, as I noticed a shipment of 66 casks in 1842 ; excellent 

 specimens from this quarter were shown in the Egyptian depart- 

 ment of the Grreat Exhibition in 1851. It was formerly a great 

 deal used, but has latterly been much superseded by other articles. 



Major D. Williams (" Journal of the Agri. and Hort. Soc. of 

 India," vol. iv., part I), states tliat the tacca plant abounds in 

 certain parts of the province of Arracan, where the Mugs prepare 

 the farina for export to the China market. 



After removing the peel, the root is grated on a fish-skin, and 

 the pulp having been strained through a coarse cloth, is washed 

 three or four times in water, and then dided in the sun. 



According to a recent examination of the plant by Mr. iS'uttall 

 (" American Journal of Pharmacy," vol. ix., p. 305), the Otaheite 

 salep is obtained from a new species of tacca, which he names 

 T. oceanica. 



Eor many years we have obtained from Tahiti, and other islands 

 of the South Seas, this fecula, known by the name of Tahiti 



