Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/262

240 promised to send us more, which promise he faithfully kept, and I shall forward specimens to you of his present by the first opportunity. The Garcinia Cambogia, of which I transmit you a representation, is one of the most common trees in this neighbourhood, attaining a large size, and is very handsome, with remarkably thick and dark foliage. A quantity of resinous juice proceeds from its bark, in the same manner that Gamboge does from the Stalagmitis; but it never seems to harden thoroughly, and no use is made of it by the natives. The outer husk of the fruit, however, is a favourite ingredient in their curries. They prepare it by taking out the pulp and seeds, breaking it to pieces, and putting it in a heap, which is covered for two or three days, till it becomes soft. It is then smoked by burning cocoa-nut shells below the grating on which it is spread. This operation is continued for many days, when it is tied up tight in a bag, and kept for use by being hung, I cannot say in the chimney, for chimneys they have none,—but where it is under the influence of the smoke from their fires when cooking. They also use it in pickling or preserving, along with salt, a kind of small fish, which cured in this way will keep for six or seven months. The flower of No. 2, which I suppose is also a Garcinia, differs much from No. 1, but the fruit appears almost the same, and is used by the natives in the same way. They are indiscriminately called Goraka by the Singhalese, but are distinguished by their colour."

In a subsequent letter, dated January 2, 1835, Mrs. Walker says, "I am convinced Stalagmitis produces true Gamboge. Dr. Pitcairn is of the same opinion, and desires me to tell you that he has administered it in the same way as it is used medicinally at home, and found its effects precisely the same."

I shall now state what the plant seems to be which is called by Mrs. Walker Stalagmitis cambogioides, and what are my reasons for forming the opinion which I entertain.

Linnæus, in his Flora Zeylanica, No. 195, under the name Cambogia, quotes as a synonym, "Carcapuli Acostæ, fructu malo aureo simili," of Plukenett's Almagestum Botanicum; which, if it be the same as the twig figured by Plukenett in his Phytographia, t. 147, fig. 3, seems to me to be Xanthochymus ovalifolius.

In the same work, Linnæus also quotes, as a synonym of his Cambogia, the "Arbor Indica, quæ gummi guttam fundit, fructu acido sulcato mali magnitudine" of Commelyn's Flora Malabarica, which is certainly "Coddam-pulli" of Rheede in Hortus Malabaricus, Mangostana Cam-