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bordering a plantation of wheat or barley: they fancy this herb preserves
the blade healthy, and the corn from blight.
The umultass[14] (cassia) is a large and handsome forest tree, producing
that most useful drug in long dark pods, several inches long, which hang
from the branches in all directions, giving a most extraordinary
appearance to the tree. The seed is small and mixed with the pulp, which
dissolves in water, and is in general use with the Natives as a powerful
and active medicine in bilious cases. I am not, however, aware that the
seed possesses any medicinal property: it certainly is not appropriated to
such cases in Hindoostaun.
Myrtle-trees,[15] under many different names, and of several kinds, are
met with in India, of an immense size compared with those grown in Europe.
They are cultivated for their known properties, rather than as mere
ornaments to the garden. The leaves, boiled in water, are said to be of
service to the hair; the root and branches are considered medicinal.
The pomegranate-tree[16] may be ranked amongst the choicest beauties of
Asiatic horticulture; and when its benefits are understood, no one wonders
that a tree or two is to be seen in almost every garden and compound of
the Mussulmaun population in India.
The finest fruit of this sort is brought, however, from Persia and Cabul,
at a great expense; and from the general estimation in which it is held,
the merchants annually import the fruit in large quantities. There are two
sorts, the sweet and the acid pomegranate, each possessing medicinal
properties peculiar to itself. Sherbet is made from the juice, which is
pressed out, and boiled up with sugar or honey to a syrup; thus prepared
it keeps good for any length of time, and very few families omit making
their yearly supply, as it constitutes a great luxury in health, and a
real benefit in particular disorders. The Natives make many varieties of
sherbet from the juices of their fruits, as the pine-apple, falsah,[17]
mango, or any other of the same succulent nature, each having properties
to recommend it beyond the mere pleasantness of its flavour.
An admirer of Nature must be struck with the singular beauty of the
pomegranate-tree, so commonly cultivated in India. The leaves are of a
rich dark green, very glossy, and adorned at the same ]]>
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