Part 37 (1/2)

[24] _Pyrus persica_.

[25] _Be-danah._

[26] Excellent apples are now grown on the lower Himalayas.

[27] _Prunus communis_ grows in the lower Himalayas and as far down as Saharanpur, but the fruit is inferior.

[28] The sweet or wild cherry, _Prunus avium_, is called _gilas_ in the Hills.

[29] _Papaiya_, the papau tree, _Carica papaya_, has the curious property of making meat tender, if placed near it.

[30] _Madar, ak._ The latter term is derived from Sanskrit _arka_, 'the sun', on account of the fiery colour of its flowers.

[31] The plant yields a silk cotton from the seeds and a rich white ba.s.s fibre from the bark, both likely to be of commercial value (Watt, ii.

38 ff.)

[32] Used in equal proportions with black pepper, the fresh blossoms are a useful and cheap remedy for asthma, hysteria, and epilepsy (_ibid_. ii.

44 ff).

[33] _Sirki_ is the upper portion of the blossoming stem, and _sentha_ the lower portion of the reed gra.s.s _Saccharum ciliare_ (_ibid_. vi, part ii, 2.)

[34] _Sarkanda_ is the Panjab name for the gra.s.s _Saccharum arundinaceum_, but it is also applied to _Saccharum ciliare_ in last note (_ibid_. vi, part ii, 1 f.).

[35] _Khaskhas_, used for screens, is the root of the gra.s.s _Andropogon muricatus_ (_ibid_. i, 245 ff.)

[36] _Chhappar_.

[37] This is true of the higher cla.s.s Musalmans; but there were splendid gardens in the palaces of the Moghul Emperors: see C.M.

Villiers Stuart, _The Gardens of the Great Mughals_, 1913.

[38] The subject of the flowering of the bamboo has been investigated by Sir G. Watt, who writes: 'A bamboo may not flower before it has attained a certain age, but its blossoming is not fixed so arbitrarily that it cannot be r.e.t.a.r.ded or accelerated by climatic influences. It is an undoubted fact that the flowering of the bamboo is decided by causes which bring about famine, for the providential supply of food from this source has saved the lives of thousands of persons during several of the great famines of India.' Hence the provision of the edible seeds by the extension of bamboo cultivation has been recommended as a means of mitigating distress (_Economic Dictionary_, vol. i, 373 ff., 386).

[39] _Tabas.h.i.+r_, bamboo manna, is a siliceous substance found in the joints of the bamboo: considered cooling, toxic, aphrodisiac and pectoral, but as a medicinal agent it is inert (_ibid_. i. 384, Yule, _Hobson-Jobson_[2], 887).

[40] A bullock carriage, Hindustani _chhakra_ (Yule, _Hobson-Jobson_[2], 407 f.).

LETTER XXII

Monkeys.--Hindoo opinions of their Nature.--Instances of their sagacity.--Rooted animosity of the Monkey tribe to the snake.--Cruelty to each other when maimed.--The female remarkable for affection to its young.--Anecdotes descriptive of the belief of the Natives in the Monkey being endowed with reason.--The Monkeys and the Alligator.--The Traveller and the Monkeys.--The Hindoo and the Monkey.

The Natives of India, more particularly the Hindoos, are accustomed to pay particular attention to the habits of the varied monkey race, conceiving them to be connecting links in the order of Nature between brutes and rational creatures; or, as some imagine and a.s.sert, (without any other foundation than conjecture and fancy), that they were originally a race of human beings, who for their wicked deeds have been doomed to perpetuate their disgrace and punishment to the end of time in the form and manner we see them, inhabiting forests, and separated from their superior man.

I have had very few opportunities of acquainting myself with the general principles of the Hindoo belief, but I am told, there are amongst them those who a.s.sert that one of their deities was transformed to a particular kind of monkey, since designated Hummoomaun,[1] after the object of their adoration; whence arises the marked veneration paid by Hindoos of certain sects to this cla.s.s of monkeys.

The Natives firmly believe the whole monkey race to be gifted with reason to a certain extent, never accounting for the sagacity and cunning they are known to possess by instinctive habits; arguing from their own observations, that the monkeys are peaceable neighbours, or inveterate enemies to man, in proportion as their good will is cultivated by kindness and hospitality, or their propensity to revenge roused by an opposite line of conduct towards them.

The husbandman, whose land is in the vicinity of a forest, and the abode of monkeys, secures safety to his crops, by planting a patch of ground with that species of grain which these animals are known to prefer. Here they a.s.semble, as appet.i.te calls, and feast themselves upon their own allotment; and, as if they appreciated the hospitality of the landlord, not a blade is broken, or a seed destroyed in the fields of corn to the right and left of their plantation. But woe to the farmer who neglects this provision; his fields will not only be visited by the marauders, but their vengeance will be displayed in the wasteful destruction of his cultivation. This undoubtedly looks more like reason than instinct; and if credit could be given to half the extraordinary tales that are told of them, the monkeys of India might justly be ent.i.tled to a higher claim than that of instinct for their actions.