234 
NATURE NOTES. 
This vahekur bush bears a fragrant white flower, the leaves, 
from which a dye is also made, being of a brilliant green and of 
an intensely bitter taste. It is much prized by the people, so 
much so that a couplet in regard to it has been handed down in 
their traditions. It runs thus : — 
“ Sawa kuchchooch kowra ukke jaya 
Chitta soofaid mittia khundoo jaya.” 
Translation. 
“ Green as grass, and bitter as the milk plant, 
White, white, and sweet as sugar.” 
In Sanskrit this plant is called “ madar,” and known to 
botanists as Calotropis gigantea. 
As an instance of the value set on this wild honey by the 
rajahs and chieftains of the country, Mr. John Barlow states 
that he was once visiting a village on the banks of the Indus, 
when a Pathan chief who lived on the opposite bank, and was 
unable from illness to pay his respects in person, despatched a 
trusted messenger to say that his country provided no good fruit, 
but it yielded the most fragrant honey from the jungles, and of 
which he took the liberty of sending four combs. The combs 
were each attached to the branches of the trees from which thejr 
had been taken, and were over a foot in length, and eight inches 
in depth. The combs were beautifully white, and the honey was 
the colour of amber, bright and transparent and most delicious 
in flavour. 
It is of this wild honey that the natives make a “ shurbut,” 
or sweet beverage mixed with water. In cases of active inflam- 
mation, and when blood-letting from the arm is resorted to, the 
patient is invariably made to drink this “ shurbut,” but mixed 
with water as hot as it is possible for him to drink it. 
The desire for wild honey is so strong amongst the people, 
that even the combs of the large bee — a black bee, and known 
as “ boinjee,” or “ bhramar ” — is hunted for in the jungles, but 
the removal of this honey from the combs is attended with con- 
siderable risk, as this kind of bee is very readily irritated, and 
never forgets or forgives an offender. 
Near the small villages of “ Noorpur ” and “ Balleal,” there 
is a cliff known by the name of “ IMoodhi-walli Drendh ” ; it is 
extremely steep, and indeed it may be said to be almost perpen- 
dicular. At about midway of its height and far out of reach, 
hung, some years ago, a huge comb of this species of bee. A 
farmer in the neighbourhood had long set his eyes upon it, and 
determined if possible to secure at least some portion of the 
honey. He was a “crack shot” with the “gholail,” or pellet- 
bow, and taking with him a dish, or “ sanak ” as it is called, he 
deposited it immediately under the comb, and then fired off a 
hard clay pellet so that he might break the comb. This, after 
a time, he succeeded in doing, and down came the honey 
drippings into the “ sanak.” In a few minutes, however, he 
was surrounded by the bees, who attacked and stung him so 
