i6H 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September!, 1887. 
viceroy, evidently after the time of Martim Aft'onso, 
Garcia mentions that the king of Portugal, Joao 
III., had pointed out to the new governor (D. 
Pedro Mascarenhas), that, with regard to Garcia 
da Orta, it was not necessary to take with him a 
physician from Portugal to Goa. By perusing 
critically the Coloquios, Count Ficalho was led to 
the view that Garcia in all his doings and living 
was guided by very sound principles ; he appears 
to have avoided the temptations of the opulent 
high life of the vice-regal court and its tricks, as 
well as the exaggerated exertions and ceremonies 
of an idolatrous church, although, on the other 
hand, Garcia evidently was honoured by the 
governors and the Portuguese colony, as well as 
by the indigenous princes and wealthy people, 
who were indebted to his medical services. Garcia 
also was always a devoted son of the church, 
and a friend of the Franciscan and Dominican orders 
settled in Goa. The famous poet, Luiz de Camoes, 
one of the illustrious of Portuguese literature, was 
on very good terms with Garcia, whose Coloquios 
the poet favoured with an ode in verses, which, 
however, appear to have been printed very incor- 
rectly. Without knowing exactly the place of 
Garcia's residence at Goa, it may be inferred from 
incidental quotations in the Coloquios that his 
cottage and garden were in a commanding situation ; 
here the physician and naturalist enjoyed, appar- 
ently as a bachelor, his leisure hours, He delighted 
in the cultivation of useful plants, and especially of 
the various edible fruits of India. Sometimes the 
doctor also sent exquisite fruits to the palace of the 
viceroy. Garcia's gardens were attended by numer- 
ous servants, as shown in the Coloquios, where 
mention is made of a native doctor who devoted his 
services to at least the female part of Garcia's slaves ; 
the doctor of Salamanca or Alcala kindly, and, per- 
haps, prudently allowed the people to resort to his 
Indian medical colleague Malupa. Garcia also poss- 
essed an estate at Bombaim, now Bombay; Simao 
Toscano was the name of Garcia's farmer there. 
The doctor quotes a lot of books in his Coloquios ; 
certainly he had them at hand in his own library, 
which, therefore, may be supposed to have been the 
richest in India, at least in books on materia medica 
or botany and medicine : it also is evident that 
Garcia had a collection of drugs and curious things 
of natural history in his rooms. 
The vivid picture of Garcia's life at Goa would 
not be complete without expressly dwelling also on 
his affectionate friend the Prince Nizamaluco or 
Buhran, to whom Garcia paid several visits in that 
ruler's magnificent metropolis Ahmednaggar. Here 
the Portuguese doctor met with the learned Mus- 
sulman physicians (Hakims), to whom he was no 
doubt indebted for a good deal of his intimate know- 
ledge of Indian materia medica. Ficalho gives at 
length the interesting story of Buhran Nizam 
Shah, an intelligent and learned prince, who was 
in constant good relations to the Portuguese Govern- 
ment of Goa. 
Garcia da Orta was already mentioned to have had 
a farmer at Bombaim, or Bombaym, the island now 
occupied by the city of Bombay. The learned 
author of the book under notice is of the opinion 
that Doctor Garcia had taken in lease the whole of 
the said island, certainly a most interesting fact. 
We refrain from following here Count Ficalho's 
convincing arguments (p. 201), but they seem to 
be absolutely in favour of his suggestion. He treats 
that question skilfully in the best historical way, 
affording or quoting a full set of documents, both 
published and unpublished notes from tho Portu- 
guese archives. Certainly, a most unexpected and 
most curious result of Count Ficalho's excellent in- 
validation, via., Gureiu da Orta'a chief receiver or 
farmer (" rendeiro," p. 217) collected the rents of 
his employer probably on the very same grounds 
which are now occupied by one of the grand eniporia 
of the British Empire in the east. 
Two chapters of Ficalho's book are devoted to a 
short, but highly interesting review of the Coloquios, 
which are duly appreciated as well as their author, 
whom the Count (p. 350) shows clearly to have 
been " the right man in the right place." But 
Ficalho at the same time (p. 381) is fully aware that 
Garcia's work was very badly written, that there is 
no order in it, that its style is utterly wanting of 
anything like consequence, method or elegance, 
notwithstanding the unusually large amount of 
excellent observations it affords. Ficaiho gives 
a list of about fifty books which Garcia quotes 
repeatedly in his Coloquios, and also points out 
some of the most remarkable plants or drugs met 
with in the Coloquios. They had, we may say, 
the good chance to be translated, as early as in 
1567, by the most competent man of the time, viz., 
Charles Clusius, but we fully understand that the 
Latin translation, which was thoroughly modified 
by Clusius, is but moderately esteemed by the Por- 
tuguese. The new edition by F. A. Varnhagen, Vis- 
conde de Porto Seguro (Lisboa, 1872,) is but a re- 
print of the original work which had been care- 
lessly printed at Goa, and Varnhagen seems to have 
even increased the number of mistakes. So it will 
be an honour due to the memory of that eminent 
Portuguese naturalist to prepare a good edition of 
the Coloquios and to illustrate it by critical notes. 
This will be a rather difficult task ; the editor 
ought to be thoroughly acquainted with botany, 
geography, history, and should also be conversant 
with the leading idioms both of Europe and India ; 
certainly an amount of knowledge not frequently 
to be found in one person. The book before us 
happily proves that Count Ficalho is the right 
man ; to all those scientific qualifications he joins 
a good deal of noble and enlightened patriotism, 
desirous of illustrating Dr. Garcia da Orta as a 
distinguished " representante do espirito portuguez," 
one of the " robustos e originaes homens do XVI 
seculo." A thoroughly competent man, Joaquim 
Heliodoro da Cunha Bivera, who lived for some 
time at Goa, stated in a letter to the author, that 
he was not able to trace at Goa any reminiscence 
of Garcia. Bivera's investigations even proved not 
a single copy of the Coloquios to exist there, in 
the very place where they had originated. Even 
the date of Garcia's death is unknown, nor are we 
informed whether it occurred in Goa. 
Count Ficalho's book gives an attracting sketch 
of the most interesting and important periods of 
Portuguese story, and on this animated and rich 
background some of the outlines, as exactly as they 
could be traced by the endeavourings of that well- 
informed and zealous investigator, become apparent 
of Garcia's remarkable life devoted to materia 
medica and medicine itself. 
Two things only remain to be regretted. In the 
first line, the large stock of information embodied 
in the book ' Garcia da Orta e o seu tempo,' ought 
to have been made more completely accessible by 
a good alphabetical index. The " Summario " of 
the fourteen chapters of the book is very care- 
fully elaborated indeed, yet not quite sufficient for 
easy reference. And secondly, it is highly desirable 
to have the excellent book, or at least the essential 
matter of its contents, translated into English ; 
the short notice of Count Ficalho's book which 
is afforded by my lines giving only a very imper- 
fect idea of the author's work. I hope some 
Portuguese scholar in England or the United States 
will bo found who may be able and willing to 
undertake the translation. And I hope thatCouat 
