Calcutta."] 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



267 



a yellow colour. The colour of the recent oil is a blueish green, approach- 

 ing to solidity in the cold, resembling in that state the colour of amber, and 

 almost pellucid. Castor oil should be chosen of a pale colour, inclining to 

 a greenish cast, almost insipid to the taste, with but little smell, and of a 

 good consistence; that which is dark coloured and rancid, should be re- 

 jected. Freight, 10 Cwt to a ton. 



Chillies, or Capsicum, {Lai Mirrk, Hind.) are long roundish taper 

 pods, divided into two or three cells full of small whitish seeds. When this 

 fruit is fresh, it has a penetrating acrid smell ; to the taste it is extremely 

 pungent, and produces a most painful burning in the mouth. They are 

 occasionally imported dry, and form the basis of Cayenne pepper ; put in 

 vinegar when ripe, they are an acceptable present in Europe. At Bengal 

 the natives make an extract from the chillies, which is about the consistence 

 and colour of treacle. 



Cochineal is an insect which lives upon different species of the Opuntia, 

 and is imported in large quantities from South America, in the form of little 

 grains of an irregular figure, of a deep reddish puqile colour, and covered 

 more or less with a whitish down. They are light, and easily rubbed to 

 powder between the fingers. On one side they are roundish and wrinkled ; 

 the other is flat. 



The attention of the East India Company was for many years directed 

 to the production of this insect ; but with little success. What has been 

 brought from India has been very small, not very abundant in colouring 

 matter, very inferior to any brought from New Spain, and used only in 

 dying coarse goods. The use of lac dye has superseded it. 



Cochineal is an article in general demand at Bombay, and occasionally 

 at China: for the former market the large black grain is preferred, as free 

 from the grey or silvery appearance as possible. In purchasing this com- 

 modity, care should be taken that the dark colour has not been occasioned 

 by art : this may be discovered by its smell, which is unpleasant, whereas 

 genuine cochineal is quite free from smell. 



Coriander Seeds, from the Coriandrum Sativum^ (D'hanya, Hind., 

 D^hanyaca, San.) are used in making curry, and also in medicine. 



Datura, or Stramonium. — This herb, which is well known in this 

 country, as the thorn apple, has been lately brought from Bengal. The 

 D. Stramonium does not grow in India, but the D. Metel (D'kartura, 

 Hind., IXhiuftura, San.) nearly resembles it. The plant has long been 

 used in that country, and is so still, as a secret means of poisoning, the 

 extract being of a very destructive quality. 



Flax, Linum Usitatissimum, (Tisi, Hind., Atasi 9 San.) is very gene- 



