Ball — On the Colloquies of Garcia De Orta— 11. 679 
It abounds in Calicut and Cannanor, growing both wild and culti- 
vated; the plant resembles ginger, but the leaf of the zerumhef is 
wider and the root larger. The root when steamed and dried is exported 
to Hormuz and Arabia, whence it goes to Alexandria and Jedda and 
from thence to Yenice, &c. It is also made into a conserve which is 
better than that made of ginger. 
Zedoaria Garcia ascertained to be identical with, in fact a corrupt 
name of what Avicena calls geiduar, which came from China and was 
a medicine of great price, and useful in the treatment of snake bites. 
It had the reputation with a Mahomedan physician of being good for 
36 ailments, but principally as an antidote to poison. 
This Colloquy mainly consists in an attempt to explain the confusion 
and contradiction about these drugs in the writings by Greeks and Arabs 
which we cannot follow here, but must refer the reader to Ainslie's 
exhaustive article on the subject. 
[References. — AinsUe, i., pp. 490-4 ; Khory^ p. 523.] 
COLLOQUY LYIII. 
[Treating of some things which have come under the notice of the 
author relating to the medicines before mentioned, and so are added 
some few other medicines or fruits, and speaks of a kind of rice which 
has butter within it, and of the letel, and of the city of Badajoz, and 
of the Cana fistula^ and of the sirifoles^ a much praised medicine 
for fluxes, and of the city of Chitor, and of the marfrim, and of the 
mangostans, and of the patecas^ and of the pao da China, and of a 
stone, much esteemed as an antidote to poison, which is obtained from 
the porcupine.] 
In this Colloquy Dimas Eosque contributes his comments and 
criticism on what has gone before. He first refers to a variety of rice 
1 exported from Java, called pulot, which when cooked with steam 
; appears as if it had been dressed with butter. He says hetel is very 
: sensitive to handling, and can stand neither excessive heat nor cold ; then 
i follow some remarks as to the derivation of the name Badajoz, as to the 
abundance of the Cana fistula in Malacca and Siam, and the deri- 
vation of the name Chitor. He then extols the virtues of the 
marmelos of Bengal (^gle marmelos or hale fruit) in the treatment of 
fluxes ; very justly too as most persons who have lived in India well 
know. Garcia gives a very fair description of the tree and fruit, and 
points out that it was by no means peculiar to Bengal, being found also 
B.I.A. PROC., SEE. III. VOL. I. 3 C 
