VIII. Defcription of the Tree called, by the BY FRANCIS BUCHANAN, Esq. M. D. BEFORE my fetting out to accompany the late de putation to the court of Ava, I received fome feeds which had been fent to SIR JOHN SHORE from Pegue. It was conceived that they might be usefully employed to yield oil, with which they feemed to abound: I was therefore particular in making my enquiries after the plant producing them. I foon learned that they were produced only in the upper provinces of the kingdom; and, on my arrival there, I found myself ftill at a distance from the tree on which they grow. It is faid only to be found on the mountains; and thefe I had no where an opportunity of examining. With fome difficulty, however, I procured, whilft at Amerapoora, fome young fhoots, with abundance of the flowers, and feveral young plants in a growing ftate: and while at Pagam, on our return, I procured many branches with the young fruit. Unluckily, all the young plants died before I reached Bengal; otherwise, I believe they might have been an acquifition of fome value. The tree is faid to be very lofty; and, from what I faw, muft produce immenfe quantities of the fruit; as may readily be conceived from looking at the drawings; where it must be obferved, that the fruitbearing branch has had by far the greatest part of its produce fhaken off by the carriage. In times of plenty, little ufe is made of the fruit, except for yielding oil, as as had been expected; and befides, a fmali quantity of the feeds are gathered, and fent to all parts of the empire, where they are used for nearly the fame purposes that almonds are amongst us; but the demand in this way cannot be confiderable.. It is in times of fcarcity that the fruit becomes valuable. It is faid, when ripe, to be red': and, like a peach, confifts of a fucculent outer flesh, containing a hard fhell, in which there is a fingle feed. The outer fleshy part is faid to be agreeably acid, and fafe to eat. When that is removed, the fhells, by a flight beating, fplit in two, and are thus eafily feparated from the kernel. These kernels tafte very much like a walnut; but are rather fofter, and more oily. As they can, at thofe places where the trees grow, be afforded very cheap, in times of fcarcity they are carefully gathered; and, when boiled with a little rice or Indian corn, furnish a great part of the food of the lower clafs of the natives. I fhall now add fuch a botanical defcription of the plant as will enable it to be reduced into the vegetable fyftem; although not in every refpect complete, owing to my not having feen the tree or the ripe fruit. I believe it will be found to conftitute a new genus; but I do not venture to give it a name, till the European botanists have afcertained, whether or not it be reducible to any known genus of plants. In the botanical defcription I ufe the Latin language; as I am not yet fufficiently acquainted with the technical terms introduced into the English by the Lichfield Society, to use them with facility. Character Effentialis. Cal. 1. phyll. petala 5, receptaculo inferta, ftam. 10, receptaculo inferta. Nect. maximum, orbiculatum, 10 fulcum, germen involvens. Styli 5, conniventes. Drupa monofperma, nuce bivalvi. Habitat in montofis regni Barmanorum. ARBOR elata ramis fufcis nudis; ramulis foliofis. Ramuli floriferi glabri, rubicundi, viridé-punctati; fructiferi rimofi. FOLIA approximata, alterna, petiolata, oblonga, basi attenuata, integra, integerrima, retufa, glabra, venis reticulata. FULCRA, petiolus anceps, acutangulus, breviffimus, glaber. Stipulæ, pubes, arma cirrhi nulla. INFLORESCENTIA. Paniculi axillares ad apices ramorum congefti, laxi, nudi, foliis longiores, ramoffiffimi; ramis teretibus, horizontalibus, fparfis. Flores parvi, albidi, plurimi, pedicellari, fparfi. Racemi fructiferi penduli, foliis multo longiores. Fructus rubri, acefcenti-dulces. CAL. perianthum proprium monophyllum, concavum, corollâ brevius, quinquefidum: laciniis obtufis. Lacinia calycis aliquando tres, fæpius quatuor. COR. petala quinque, rarius fex, receptaculo inferta, feffilia, fublinearia, obtufa, revoluta. NECT. Maximum, in centro floris orbiculatum, depreffum, decem-ftriatum, germen involvens. STAM. Filamenta decem, fubulata, erecta, petalis breviora, receptaculo inferta, antheræ parvæ, ovatæ. PIST. Germen fuperum. Nectario tectum. Styli quinque, fubulati, erecti, conniventes, longitudine ftaminum, ftigmata obtufa. PER. Drupa compreffa, obovata, obtufa, obtufocarinata, unilocularis. SEM. Nux unilocularis, compreffa, fub-bivalvis, dehifcens; femen folitarium, hinc acutum, inde craffum carinatum. AFFINIS, ordine naturali, terminaliis proximus habitu, generi a Roxburgio tfaroo mamaday dito, fed nectaria diverfiffima, characterem habet non nihil fimilem generi altero, a Roxburgio chitraca dicto, fed habitus diverfi; fingularis eft drupa monofperma cum ftylis quinque; fimile aliquód tamen occurrit in genere Roxburgiano odina. A SAPONARIA diverfum genus, drupâ uniloculari. IX. Specimen of the Language OF THE PEOPLE INHABITING THE HILLS IN THE VICINITY OF BHAGULPOOR. PERC Communicated in a Letter to the Secretary, BY MAJOR R. E. ROBERTS. ERCEIVING that the very full and fatisfactory account of the people inhabiting the hills in the vicinity of Bhagulpoor, by Lieutenant SHAWE, in the Fourth Volume of the Afiatick Refearches, is unaccompanied by any specimen of their language, fhould the following one be acceptable as a fupplement to that account, or you deem it deferving the notice of the Society, I fhall be obliged by your laying it before them, as I can rely on the correctnefs of it. Mr. SHAWE having obferved that these people have no writing character, I just beg leave to add, that, when I was on duty at Rajahmahl, feveral years ago, a hill chief fent a verbal meffage to the commanding officer, expreffing a wifh to wait upon him. Being defired to appoint a day for that purpose, he tranfmitted a ftraw with four knots upon it, which was ex. plained by the meffenger who brought it, to intimate, that his mafter would come on the fourth day. |