o is hard, yet light, and possesses a fine grain,
though fibrous. The outward surface is smooth and highly polished by
Nature, and the knot very difficult to penetrate by any other means than a
saw. The twigs or branches are covered with sharp thorns, in all
probability a natural provision to defend the young trees from herbaceous
animals. I have heard of the bamboo blossoming when arrived at full age;
this I have, however, never seen, and cannot therefore presume to
describe.[38]

In the hollow divisions of the bamboo is found, in small quantities, a
pure white tasteless substance, called tawurshear,[39] which as a medicine
is in great request with the Native doctors, who administer it as a
sovereign remedy for lowness of spirits, and every disease of the heart,
such as palpitations, &c. The tawurshear when used medicinally is pounded
fine, and mixed up with gold and silver leaf, preserved quinces and apples,
and the syrup of pomegranates, which is simmered over a slow fire until it
becomes of the consistence of jam. It is taken before meals by the patient.

The bamboo is rendered serviceable to man in a countless variety of ways,
both for use and ornament. The chuphas (thatched-roofs) of huts, cottages,
or bungalows, are all constructed on frames of bamboo, to which each layer
of grass is firmly fixed by laths formed of the same wood.

The only doors in poor people's habitations are contrived from the same
materials as the roof: viz., grass on bamboo frames, just sufficient to
secure privacy and defend the inmates from cold air, or the nightly
incursions of wolves and jackals. For the warm weather, screens are
invented of split bamboos, either fine or coarse, as circumstances permit,
to answer the purpose of doors, both for the rich and poor, whenever the
house is so situated that these intruders may be anticipated at night.

The bamboo is made useful also in the kitchen as bellows by the aid of the
cook's breath; in the stable, to administer medicine to horses; and to the
poor traveller, as a deposit for his oil, either for cooking or his lamp.
To the boatman as sculls, masts, yards, and poles; besides affording him a
covering to his boat, which could not be constructed with any other wood
equally answering the same varied purpose of durability and lightness.

The carriers (generally of the bearer caste), by the help of a split
bamboo over the shoulder, convey heavy loads suspended by cords at each
end, from one p