£06 



Notes of an excursion along [no. 6, new series, 



to Minerva is most worthily appropriate to the Nair race.* From 

 so strange a custom the moral tone of the inhabitants may be better 

 conceived thanf described. The same practice obtains, I believe in 

 Kepaul. 



Returning from this digression on the Nair race, I come again to 

 speak of the road I was traversing and which I remarked was one 

 full of treasures for the botanical collector. It is a garden of wild 

 plants the whole way, for scattered on either side are 



' The living herbs, profusely wild, 

 O'er all the deep green earth, beyond the power 

 Of Botanist to number up their tribes.' 



In enumerating a few of the trees and shrubs, which are met 

 with^perhaps I may convey some idea of the Flora of these parts. 

 Among the most conspicuous trees are many fine specimens of the 

 Valeria Inclica with its large panicles of white flowers, and bright 

 green leaves whose veins are so prominently marked. It is well 

 known that this tree, (commonly called the Piney Varnish tree,) 

 yields a valuable Dammer resin. The Piney Gum or Indian Copal, 

 as it is sometimes termed, is much used in these parts for varnish- 

 ing doors and window frames, candles have also been made of a 

 solid oil contained in it. The experimental manufacture which 

 was conducted by Dr. Wight succeeded, but the cost of transmission 

 to England precluded the hope of profit. The-Resin flows sponta- 

 neously or is procured by making vertical and horizontal incisions 

 in the bark, from which in the course of 12, or 24 hours it exudes 

 very freely. The Natives state there are two varieties of this tree, 

 one growing at the foot of the hills yielding a different colored 

 dammer, but this I suspect is a mistake ; and there is little or no 

 difference in the trees, but that the difference in the color of resin 

 is owing to local causes, probably from the season in which it is 

 procured. It is probable that the ' green' dammer is obtained 



* " Stranger ! I tell thee true ; my mother's voice, 

 Affirms me his, but, since no mortal knows 

 His derivation, I affirm it not." 



Horn. Odyss I. 216. Cowpers translation, 

 t For a full detail of this extraordinary custom of the Nairs, see Buchanan's 

 Journey Vol. 2. p. 411, 513. 



