47 
flavoured with salt and spices: and the wild honey is found in the 
clefts of the rocks in Judea, as abundantly as in the caves of 
Hindostan. 
We often read in scripture of the butter of kine, the milk of 
sheep, and the fat of the kidneys of wheat; with the pure blood 
of the grape, and honey out of the rock: “ I would have fed thee 
with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the stony rock 
would I have satisfied thee/’ There can be as little doubt what 
that honey was, as of the wild honey on which the Baptist fed in 
the wilderness; some of the greatest delicacies in India are now 
made from the rolong-flour, which is called the heart, or kidney of 
the wheat: and most probably the brooks of honey and butter, 
mentioned by Zophar, in the book of Job, Avere the liquid honey 
from the wild bees; and the clarified butter, or ghee, used through- 
out Hindostan, Avhich pours like oil out of the duppers, or im- 
mense leather bottles in which it is transported, as an article of 
commerce; and is every where preferred by the natives to butler 
not so prepared. 
The continental Avoods are enlivened Avith peacocks, partridges, 
quails, green-pigeons, and other birds of brilliant plumage and 
excellent flavour; but under my present limitation, I can only 
describe a small part of Indian ornithology. Vultures, kites, haAvks, 
crows, and a variety of smaller birds, abound in Bombay; and 
amadavads, and other songsters, are brought thither from Surat, 
and different countries. 
The myneh is a very entertaining bird, hopping about the 
house, and articulating several Avords in the manner of the starling; 
and frequently repeating its own name of mvneh; the sharukh, a 
