ASAFOETIDA IN AFFGHANISTAN. 
5 S3' 
diet was one of “Manslaughter.” The jury also made a presentment to the effect that 
there might be a better arrangement of the bottles than at present adopted by Messrs. 
Clay and Abraham. Richard Poole was liberated on bail, himself in £100, and two 
sureties of £50 each. 
We find that both “poison labels” and “poison corks” were brought into court, and 
their advantages in preventing accidental poisoning pointed out; but it will be observed 
that one fact elicited in evidence was a far more important element in this melancholy 
case, than the absence of either “ poison labels ” or “ poison cork,” viz. that the strychnia 
was kept in a state of powder , and not in its crystalline form, as should always be the 
case; for it would have been almost an impossibility to have weighed five grains of these 
crystals without detecting the mistake ; and the alleged advantage of having strychnia 
in a state of powder for the convenience of weighing small quantities is practically of no 
importance. 
ASAFCETIDA IN AFFGHANISTAN. 
A SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. BY M. C. COOKE. 
To what was before known with certainty of Asafcetida in Afghanistan may be added 
the following particulars, communicated principally by Dr. Bellew, who was formerly 
attached to the mission to Kandahar. Some portion may be a repetition of the same 
facts previously obtained by other travellers, and which are hereby corroborated; for 
other information now communicated for the first time, Dr. Bellew is mainly responsible. 
This brief notice can, however, only be regarded as supplementary. 
The asafoetida of commerce is obtained from only one plant in Affghanistan, viz. 
Narthex asafcetida. It grows wild on the hills about Plerat and Furrah, and is never 
cultivated, though hundreds of the Kakar tribe from the Boree valley, who collect the 
gum, remain in the deserts to tend and water the plant. 
The “tear” sort is the gum resin that exudes, and dries drop by drop, from incisions 
around the top of the root; the “ lump ” sort is the gum resin as it exudes from a broad 
surface, as when the top of the root is sliced off. The latter sort is more frequently met 
with than the former, but I do not know of any difference in the qualities of the two 
sorts. There are several other umbelliferous plants in Affghanistan which resemble the 
asafoetida plant in external appearance, and which also, like it, when wounded, exude 
a milky viscid sap, but I never heard that the sap of these plants (also gum resins) was 
ever collected by the natives, though the plants are very abundant, especially on the 
western slopes and ranges of the Sufaid Koh. 
The frail vaginated stem, or the lower cluster of sheathing leaves (of the asafoetida 
plant)—the former belonging to old plants, and the latter to young ones—is removed at its 
junction with the root, round which is dug a small trench about six inches wide and as 
many deep. Three or four incisions are then made around the head of the root, and fresh 
ones are repeated at intervals of three or four days; the sap continuing to exude for a 
w r eek or fortnight, according to the calibre of the root. In all cases as soon as the inci¬ 
sions are made, the root-head is covered over with a thick bundle of dried herbs or loose 
stones, as a protection against the sun; where this is not done the root withers in the 
first day, and little or no juice exudes. The quantity of asafoetida obtained from each 
root varies from a few ounces to a couple of pounds weight, according to the size of the 
roots, some being no bigger than a carrot, whilst others attain the thickness of a man’s 
leg. The quality of the gum differs much, and it is always adulterated on the spot by 
the collectors before it enters the market. The extent of adulteration varies from one- 
fifth to one-third, wheat or barley-flour or powdered gypsum are the usual adulterants. 
The best sort, however, which is obtained solely from the leaf-bud in the centre of the 
root-head of the newly sprouting plant, is never adulterated, and sells at a much higher 
price than the other kinds. The price of the pure drug at Kandahar varies from four to 
seven Indian rupees per “ man-i-tabriz ” (about 3 lb.), and of the inferior kinds from one 
and a half to three and a half rupees per “ man.” The asafoetida is commonly used by 
the Mahometan population of India as a condiment in several of their dishes, and espe¬ 
cially mixed with “ dal.” It is not an article of general consumption in Affghanistan, 
though often prescribed as a warm remedy for cold diseases by the native physicians, who 
also use it as a vermifuge. The fresh leaves of the plant, which have the same peculiar 
odour as its secretion, when cooked, are commonly used as an article of diet by those 
