DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25989#0199
TOCHATEEGAON.
183
a peculiar fragrant flavour of tiie cinnamon, and
to the taste was pungent.
" The black pepper grows in great abun-
dance. The ginger is the largest and finest of any
part of India. Tobacco is the staple produce
of the country, the capsicums are peculiarly fine.
A long grass grows in abundance, the root
of which exhibits both the taste and smell of
the finest mace. Rice is cultivated to a great
extent; the grain is peculiarly large and perhaps
the finest in India. Turmeric (curcuma) grows
wild. The order of the principal plants which
I observed was of the Sarmentosax convolutus.
They extend from 100 to 200 feet, and as they
entwine round their own massy trunks are
found from four to five feet in circumference.
From these I have no doubt, the most precious
gums are to be obtained. The country abounds
with fine timber, which ordinarily resembles
mahogany.
" The hills are much higher 1 think than they
are generally estimated to be, which is from 2 to
4000 feet. Those about Sandway have masses
of Schistus singularly placed, as if they had
been thrown there by some supernatural hand,
and not belonging to the soil, which is clay and
sandy. The sands concreted various veins of this
material into stones; blue, red, grey and black,
were the ordinary colours. The sand uniting
183
a peculiar fragrant flavour of tiie cinnamon, and
to the taste was pungent.
" The black pepper grows in great abun-
dance. The ginger is the largest and finest of any
part of India. Tobacco is the staple produce
of the country, the capsicums are peculiarly fine.
A long grass grows in abundance, the root
of which exhibits both the taste and smell of
the finest mace. Rice is cultivated to a great
extent; the grain is peculiarly large and perhaps
the finest in India. Turmeric (curcuma) grows
wild. The order of the principal plants which
I observed was of the Sarmentosax convolutus.
They extend from 100 to 200 feet, and as they
entwine round their own massy trunks are
found from four to five feet in circumference.
From these I have no doubt, the most precious
gums are to be obtained. The country abounds
with fine timber, which ordinarily resembles
mahogany.
" The hills are much higher 1 think than they
are generally estimated to be, which is from 2 to
4000 feet. Those about Sandway have masses
of Schistus singularly placed, as if they had
been thrown there by some supernatural hand,
and not belonging to the soil, which is clay and
sandy. The sands concreted various veins of this
material into stones; blue, red, grey and black,
were the ordinary colours. The sand uniting