624 
was as low as R80 per cwt. rose rapidly and averaged 
JtUSO per cwfc. The spice is largely exported to the 
west coast, whence much of it is shipped to Bombay. 
The other products under this head call for no 
remark. 
» «, 
TABASHEER. 
From an elaborate article by Sir D. Brandis in the 
In lian Forester on a curious secretion id the Bamboo, 
we extract the first portion, as follows : — 
I wish, through the medium of the Indian Forester, 
to draw attention of my friends and former colleagues, 
as well as of younger Forest officers in India generally, 
to this remarkable substauce, because the study of 
its formation may possibly lead to important results 
concerning the life history of the large bamboos, in the 
hollow joints of which it is deposited. Its great, and I 
may add unmerited, fame as a me Heine, this substauce 
has received mainly through the writings of the old Arab 
physicians, particularly of Rail + 923, and of Ibn Since 
(better known as Avicenna) + 1,037- But the name is 
of Sanskrit origin tva'thshira, tavaJckshira, meaniug 
milk in the skin. 
The oldest detailed account of this substauce known 
to me is contained in a letter from Dr. Patrick Russell 
to Sir Joseph Banks, dated Vizagapatam, November 
26th, 1788, printed in Vol. 80 (1790) of the Philo- 
sophical Transactions of London. He notices the er- 
roneous account given by Arab writers of its origin 
through the burning of bomboo stems, especially of 
such as have suffered fro 03 fire kindled by the friction 
of the reeds one against the other, an accident, he 
adds, supposed to happen frequently in the dry sea- 
sou among the hills, and he mentions that in the 
Latin versions oE Razi and Avicenna, tabasheer is 
constantly but erroneously rendered by spodium (ashe-i). 
He adds, that the mountaineers, referring probably to 
those of the Vizagapatam district, say, they never look 
for tab isheer in the half burnt fragments of the bam- 
boo. Here I may mention at the outset, that the 
erroneous notion, that tabasheer is obtained from the 
ashes of bamboos, is still current iu books in Europe. 
Tabasheer wis also formerly confused with sugar, this 
error, however, was cleared up by Rumphius (Her- 
barium Amboinense, IV., II). He says that the sugar- 
cane has been confused with the bimboo and sugar 
with tabaxir, also called Sachar Mamboe. Rumphius 
wrote his large and excellent work about 1690, and 
it was published in 1750. Colonel Yule, in his delight- 
ful book " A Glossary of Anglo-Indian words " (1886) 
enters fully into this interesting question, and shows 
the absurdity of the idea, which has long been enter- 
tained, that the saccharoa of Greek and Roman writers 
was not sugar but the siliceous concretion sometimes 
deposited in bamboos (pages 654 and 675). 
The account of Dr. Russell's own researches forma 
the most interesting portion of the papers. After 
mentioning that tabasheer is only found in the joints 
of the female bamboo (in this case probably BamJiusa 
arundinacea), he explains that on shaking the bamboo, 
a rattling noise indicates the existence of tabasheer 
in large pieces, and that these are bluish-white, like 
fragments of shells, but softer in substance. In other 
cases there is ouly a rough friable white or cinereous 
powdery substance adhering to the inner wall of the 
joiut. 
In April he examined a bamboo of sixty joints re- 
ceived from Vollore (probably the place on the Palar 
river west of Madras is meant). On splittiug it, no 
vestige was found in two joints, these were discolored 
within. The whole quantity collected amounted to 27 
grains, and the largest quantity was obtained from 
the two middle joints. A small portion, about four 
grains, consisted of bluish-white solid pieces, but soft, 
the rest was cinereous and friable. 
In July, 37 bamboos were split out of a large quan- 
tity of groen bamboos, each containing 5-6 joints, 
which had been brought from the hills, 50 miles dis- 
tant from Vizagapatam. In nine of these no vestige 
of tibasheer was found, the remaining 28 yielded small 
quantities, in the aggregate not much exceeding 2 
drams (54 10-10th grains). The substance was never 
found iu mora than threo joints of the same bamboo 
and the empty joints were sometimes contiguous, so up- 
times interrupted. The white smoother and harder 
particles adhered to the septum and to the sides at 
the ends, never to the middle. Instead of being 
chiefly found at the lower extremity of the joint, as 
might be expected from the sap settling there, they 
were found adhering indifferently to either extremity, 
and sometimes to both, forming a smooth lining, some- 
what resembling polished stucco, generally cracked 
in several places, which could readily be detached with 
a blunt knife; Iu some joints th'i tabasheer was thus 
collected at one or bath extremities only, and in such 
no rattling was perceived, but generally, while some 
adhered to the extremities of the joint on the inside, 
other detached pieces were intermixed with the coarser 
loose particles in the cavity. 
Tabasheer his been repeatedly analysed. In one 
point all analyses agree, that it chiefly consists of 
silica, the proportion varying between 70 and 90 per 
cent, with a small quantity of moisture and organic 
matter. The oiher principal substances are lime and 
pot.ish, but their proportions seem to vary. (See 
Turner's Aualvsis of Tabasheer, E linburgh Journal 
of Science, XVI., 335, and T. Thomson, quoted on 
page 257 of the Pharmacopoeia of India.) The silica, 
lime aud potash were doabtless origiually held in 
solution in the sap, which is taken up by the roots 
from the ground. The sap which fills the cells of the 
growing bamboo-shoot, holds these inorgauic substances 
in solution, together with sugar, gum ani other 
organic substances which have been elaborated by 
the action of the leaves. As the shoot grows older, 
cavitie;are formed in the joints and in these cavities 
some of the sap collects from the surrounding 
tissues. Th; existence of this watery fluid in the 
hollow joints of the bamboo is well known to all who 
have spent some time iu the bamboo forests of India 
and other tropical countries. 
There is little doubt, that tabasheer is the residue of 
this fluid, but it is not clear how it is formed. In any 
case, however, the fluid in the hollow joints is in- 
timataly connected with tabasheer, this seems also to 
have been Dr. Russell's view of the proces 0 , and 
accordingly he paid attention to fluid found in the 
joints of the bamboo. The existence of such fluid, 
he observes, may be known by the sound when the 
joint is shaken. He never found fluid in more than 
two joints of one stem, and never in large quantities, 
1J ounces being the largest amount obtained from 
one stem. He adds that the fluid always had a slightly 
saline and astringent taste, that it was always trans- 
parent but varied in color and consistency. Some 
of a darker color had the consistency of honey, some 
on the other hand was perfectly colorless but nearly 
dry. Both kinds, he says, ha 3 the sharp salt taste of 
fresh tabasheer. 
Dr. P. Russell also mentions, that in the bazars of 
Hyderabad two sorts of tabasheer are sold, the best at 
one rupee a dram, the inferior kind at half that price, 
the latter consisting chiefly of burnt teeth and bones. 
A Parsee informed him, that tabasheer was produced 
in great quantities in Sylhet, and sold there at Rl 
to 1-8 per pound, also that it formed a considerable 
article of trade from Bengal to Persia and Arabia. 
A later volume of the Philosophical Transactions 
(for 1819), contains an important article by Sir D. 
Brewster on the very remarkable optical aud physical 
properties of tabasheer. In that article Brewster 
mentions also, that Humboldt discoversd tabasheer in 
the bamboos which grow to the west of the Pinehincha 
in South America. 
+ 
The Dry Cycle : Assam Affected. — A 
correspondent writes from Debrooghur : — I have to 
record the driest season within the memory of the 
oldest inhabitant. On 23rd October there fell -60 
rain and then none till 19th instant, when we 
got - 29 only. Pruning generally is rather late this 
year. Extensions are on a smaller scale this season 
owing to the failure of the seed crop. Trans- 
planting has been very unsatisfactory, but for those 
making bricks the weather has been everything that 
could be wished.— Indian Planters' Gazette, Jan. 31st 
