Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/25

 INTRODUCTION, xv «(»f India, and has been monopolized by the Casli- merean goveramenU The chiimis is prepared from k^ and sold in India, where it is mixed with tomakoo ( tobacco ), and used for the purpose of producinj^ intoxication, principally by the faqiieers, who smoke it through the hooka. Besides the hemp-plant, two other valuable productions of the country, saffron ( Crocus sat. ) and the putchuk-root ( Costis nigt Cashm. ) have also been monopolized by the govern- ment. Notwithstanding this fact, and the proximity ,cf the country, it is stated in the Bengal Dispensa- tory^ p. 692, •' Putchuk-root is brought from Lahore, where it is called kooi^ it is of unknown origin ; it is chiefly exported to China, where it is used as in- cense," &c. (!) Twenty years ago, when I was still ignorant of what drugs were to be obtained in the Bazaar at La- hore, I sent to an apothecary in Calcutta, for Stry- chnos faba St. Ignatii^ and succiis sepioe ; instead of the first, I received Strychnos nux vomica^ which belongs to the family of the Strychnos ! and instead of the latter ( the tint of the cuttle-fish ) I received cuttle-Jish shells, although, as the reader may be aware, the latter have a different color and a different effect. All these species of Strychnos and ossa sepioe can, however, be procured in any quantity at the Lahore Bazaar. My long residence in " the land of the five rivers" afforded me the opportunity of becoming well ac- quainted not only with the country and its produc- tions, but, also with its endemical and epidemical diseases ; its medicinal substances, and the verna- cular names both of diseases and medicaments ; all of which are less known to English physicians than