Introduction. 
H 
employed in Hindostan ; nevertheless, the domination of the 
British Government has undoubtedly much lessened the in¬ 
fluence they exercise upon the minds of the natives. In many 
parts of the Indian peninsula a pleasant floral custom is re¬ 
tained. After dinner, servants carry round to the guests a silver 
basin decked with newly-gathered flowers, into which water is 
poured over the hands. The flowers are placed in a perforated 
cover, so as to conceal the water from view. In some parts of 
India* as also of Persia, it is customary to welcome the stranger 
on his entrance to a town with wreaths of flowers, which, it is 
said, the women and children are eager to offer. One of these 
emblems of hospitality seems to us far more desirable than a 
chariot-load of the blood-stained triumphal garlands which the 
Latins awarded to their successful soldiery. Hindoos are fond 
of covering the shrines of their favourite deities with floral 
offerings ; and, like their brethren of Turkey and Persia, the 
Hindostanee followers of Mahomet inherit the love of all 
Eastern nations for blossomy symbols. '■ 
Forbes, in his “ Oriental Memoirs,” speaking of the ceme¬ 
teries of * Guzerat, says: “To those consecrated spots the 
Mahommedan matrons repair, at stated anniveisaiies, with 
fairest flowers to sweeten the sad grave. The grand tombs are 
often splendidly illuminated, but the meanest heap of turf has 
its visitors, to chant a requiem, light a little lamp, suspend a 
garland or strew a rose, as an affectionate tribute to depaited 
Tove or separated friendship.” Would that our neglected grave¬ 
yards— our “cities of silence,” as the Turks poetically call 
cemeteries —could present scenes as consolatory! Perhaps, 
however, it is as well that it is not death, but the woild, that is 
too much with us. , , r . 
It has been remarked that the floral symbols of these ancient 
nations have elucidated some of the most difficult questions 
concerning their history, and have made it certain that most 
of the Indian and Egyptian customs originated in Chaldea— 
that land of serene and tranquil skies, where the observation of 
nature first grew into a science, and was cradled and cherished 
in the earliest ages of the world. The exclusiveness of the 
Chinese and Japanese races makes it difficult to obtain any 
reliable account of their florigraphical symbols ; nevertheless, 
there is sufficient proof that the former employ a floral alphabet, 
