Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/347

THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF BENGAL 289 may be. They are neatly shaped, and are naturally of a mottled colour, white, yellow, and black. There is a great trade in them to all parts of India, for they are found nowhere else. By rubbing hard two sticks of this cane together, fire is produced as from a match; and they are used for this purpose. There is yet another sort of cane, which never grows thicker than the little finger, of the same form and growth as the other; it is as pliant as an osier, and is called Rotan (rattan). Ships* cables are made of it, and many kinds of neatly plaited baskets, and other wicker things. In short, it is used as cord, and can be split into any number of strips. It is a fathom and a half in length. It is traf- ficked in everywhere, and is in great demand for its use in manufacture; it is white, and not mottled. This country abounds with elephants, which are ex- ported hence to all parts of India. There are rhinoc- eroses also, and some say unicorns, too, which are said to be found in this land only. They say other animals will not drink at a well until a female unicorn has steeped her horn in the water, so they all wait on the bank till she comes and does so. In short, I find no country in all the East Indies more abundantly supplied with all things needful for food, with the riches of nature and art; and were not the navigation so dangerous, it would be the fairest, most pleasant, fertile, and profitable in the whole world. They usually keep an ambassador at Gtoa; but when I was preparing to leave Goa to come home, there ar- rived an ambassador extraordinary at the court of the