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114
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
This
or had exuded from the reeds themselves. was a prevalent error in ancient times, e.g. Dioskoridês says that sugar is a sort of concreted honey found upon canes in India and Arabia Felix, and Pliny that it is collected from canes like a gum, He describes it as white and brittle between the teeth, of the size of a hazel-nut at most, and used in medicine only. So also Lucan, alluding to the Indians near the Ganges, says that they quaff sweet juices from tender reeds. Sugar, however, as is well known, must be extracted by art from the plant. It has been conjectured that the sugar described by Pliny and Dioskoridês was sugar candy obtained from China.
25. Meλiworov-Melilot, Honey-lotus. Exported from. Egypt to Barugaza (49). Melilot is the Egyptian or Nymphæa Lotus, or Lily of the Nile, the stalk of which contained a sweet nutritive substance which was made into bread. So Vincent; but Melilot is a kind of clover, so called from the quantity of honey it contains. The nymphæs lotus, or what was called the Lily of the Nile, is not a true lotus, and contains no edible substance.
26. Mokρóтov. Exported from Moundou (9) and Mossulon (10). It is a sort of incense, mentioned only in the Periplús.
28. Múpov-Myrrh. (Sans. bola.) Exported from Egypt to Barugaza as a present for the king (49). It is a gum or resin issuing from a thorn found in Arabia Felix, Abyssinia, &c., vide ouúpvn inf.
27. Móra-Moto-a sort of cassia exported from Indian muslins exported from the markets of Tabai and Opônê (13).
Dimurikê to Egypt (56). Muslins of every description, Seric and dyed of a mallow colour, exported from Barugaza to Egypt (49); Indian muslin taken to the island of Dioskoridês (31); wide Indian muslins called μovax, mondkhé, i. e. of the best and finest sort; and another sort called raypa. roynn, sagmatogéné, i. e. coarse cotton unfit for spinning, and used for stuffing beds, cushions, &c., exported from Barugaza to the Barbarine markets (14), and to Arabia, whence it was exported to Adouli (6). The meanings given to monákhé and sagmatogéné (for which other readings have been suggested) are conjectural. Vincent defends the meaning assigned to sugmatogéné by a quotation from a passage in Strabo citing Nearkhos" Fine muslins are made of cotton, but the Makedonians use cotton for flocks, and stuffing of couches."
29. Nápoos (Sans. nalada, kaskas,' Heb. nerd) Nard, Spikenard." Gangetic spikenard brought down the Ganges to Gangê, near its mouth (63), and forwarded thence to Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). Spikenard produced in the regions of the Upper Indus and in Indo-Skythia forwarded through Ozênê to Barugaza (48). Imported by the Egyptians from Barugaza and Barbarikon in IndoSkythia (49, 39).
[APRIL, 1879.
bathrum or Betel, as will appear from his usage of Hadrosphærum, Mesosphorum, and Microsphorum, terms peculiar to the Betel"-II. 743-4. See Sir W. Jones on the spikenard of the ancients in As. Res. vol. II. pp. 416 et seq., and Roxburgh's additional remarks on the spikenard of the ancients, vol. IV. pp. 97 et seq., and botanical observations on the spikenard, pp. 433. See also Lassen, Ind. Alt. vol. I. pp. 288 et seq.
30. Naúλos-Nauplius. Exported in small quantity from the marts of Azania (17). The signification of the word is obscure, and the reading suspected. For NaYIAos Müller suggests NaPTIcos, the Indian cocoanut, which the Arabians call Nargil (Sansk. nárikéla or nalikéra, Guj. náliyér, Hindi náliyar). It favours this suggestion that cocoanut oil is a product of Zangibar, and that in four different passages of Kosmas Indikopleustês nuts are called dpyéλλca, which is either a corrupt reading for vapyêλia, or Kosmas may not have known the name accurately enough.
The Nardos is a plant called (from its root being shaped like an ear of corn) νάρδου στάχυς, also vapoóoraxus, Latin Spica nardi, whence 'spikenard.' It belongs to the species Valeriana. "No Oriental aromatic," says Vinçent, "has caused greater disputes among the critics or writers on natural history, and it is only within these few years that we have arrived at the true knowledge of this curious odour by means of the inquiries of Sir W. Jones and Dr. Roxburgh. Pliny describes the nard with its spica, mentioning also that both the leaves and the spica are of high value, and that the odour is the prime in all unguents; the price 100 denarii for a pound. But he afterwards visibly confounds it with the Mala
31. '06óvtov Muslin. Sêric muslin sent from the Thinai to Barugaza and Dimurikê (64). Coarse cottons produced in great quantity in Ariakê, carried down from Ozênê to Barugaza (48); large supplies sent thither from Tagara also (51);
32. 'Oivos-Wine. Laodikean and Italian wine exported in small quantity to Adouli (6); to Aualitês (7), Malaô (8), Mouza (24), Kanê (28), Barbarikon in Indo-Skythia (39); the same sorts, together with Arabian wine, to Barugaza (19); sent in small quantity to Mouziris and Nelkunda (56); the region inland from Oraia bears the vine (37), which is found also in the district of Mouza (24), whence wine is exported to the marts of Azania, not for sale, but to gain the good will of the natives (17). Wine is exported also from
11 Obtained from the root of Nardostachys jatamansi, a native of the eastern Himalayas.-ED.
