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are said to be greatly in request in Europe." He speaks of five kinds of silk-worms, but adds, that the one called Desi, or native, is preferred. He estimates the export of raw silk from Bengal, at from 150 to 200 tons annually, but observes that it might be greatly increased.*

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* After speaking of silk, he says: The manufacture of indigo appears to have been known and practised in India at the earliest period. From this country, whence the dye obtains its name, Europe was anciently supplied with it, until the produce of America engrossed the market. Within a very late period, the enterprise of a few Europeans in Bengal has revived the exportation of indigo, but it has been mostly manufactured by themselves. The nicety of the process, by which the best indigo is made, demands a skilful and experienced eye. It is not from the practice of making some pounds from a few roods of land that competent skill can be attained: yet such was the management of the natives. Every peasant individually extracted the dye from the plants which he had cultivated on a few biswas of ground; or else the manufacture was undertaken by a dyer, as an occasional employment connected with his profession. The better management of the Americans in this respect, rather than any essential difference in the process, transferred the supply of the market to America; for, it is now well ascertained

But if the commerce with India became a source of fortune to the industrious trader, and an important branch of revenue to the government, the introduction of the products of the East also tended to stimulate and increase the already excessive luxury which prevailed at Rome. In the Periplus of the Erythrean sea by the navigator Arrian,* an account is given of the imports

that the indigo of Bengal, so far as its natural quality may be solely considered, is superior to that of North America, and equal to the best of South America."See Remarks on the Husbandry and internal Commerce of Bengal, published at Calcutta in 1804, republished at London in 1806, p. 154.

*This Arrian must not be confounded with Flavius Arrian, the historian of the Expedition of Alexander, The author of the Periplus appears to have been a trading navigator in the seas described by him, and to have personally visited the coasts of the Red Sea, part of those of Arabia, Africa, and Malabar in India. There are some things in the Periplus contradictory to what is said by the other Arrian. He supposes Alexander to have advanced to the banks of the Ganges: whereas, according to Flavius Arrian, he never even crossed the Jumna. The time of the existence of the author of the Periplus has not been ascertained, but it must have VOL. II.

U

from India, and in the Roman Digests the articles subject to duties to the

are enumerated.*

government

The imports from the East consisted of Cotton cloths, white and coloured; Muslins, plain, flowered, striped, and embroidered; Silks; and, though shawls are not specified, yet Marucorum Lana, which Dr. Vincent supposed to be the wool of which the shawls are made, is mentioned; Medicinal drugs; Ferrum Indicum, tempered iron or steel; Spices and Aromatics,† in the

been after the Romans had conquered Egypt, and before Arrian the historian. See Vincent, vol. i. p. 45.

Digest, lib. xxxix. tit. iv. Doctor Vincent, in an Appendix to the second volume of his work on the navigation to India, gives a list of the articles mentioned in both the Periplus and Digest.

Amongst the aromatics, the Nardi Stachys, mentioned in the Digest, and the Nardi Spica in the Periplus, appears to have been what is named by Roxburgh and others, Spikenard. Dr. Vincent observes, that no Oriental aromatic has caused such controversy among the writers on natural history, and that it is only within these few years that we have arrived at the true knowledge of it, by means of the inquiries of Sir William Jones and

list of which all those now brought from India are to be found; to be found; frankincense; odoriferous gums, woods, and ointments; sugar, called honey from canes;* tortoiseshell; ivory; porcelain; precious stones and gems of various kinds, as emeralds, sapphires, topazes, amethysts, hyacinths,

Dr. Roxburgh. See Vincent, vol. ii. p. 742.—Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 405, and vol. iv. pp. 97 and 433. —And Roxburgh's Plants of the coast of Coromandel, in which there are beautiful coloured drawings of the Spikenard.

* Lotos Honey is also mentioned, which it is difficult to account for: we do not conceive that sugar could be procured from the berry of the Ramnus Lotus, which is a farinaceous plant, and we know that the Nymphæa Lotus is held sacred by the Hindus, and preserved with religious care. (See vol. i. p. 151-157.) This article is not in the Digest, but in the Periplus only, the author of which says that it was brought from Barugaza. I am inclined to think that the name Lotus must be an error, arising either from the ignorance of the author, or an inadvertency in copying; for if sugar could be extracted from the Nymphæa, and it were even permitted by the Hindus, the quantity procured from so rare a plant, must have been too inconsiderable to furnish an article for exportation.

and diamonds, which were brought to a great amount; the ruby is not specifically mentioned, but it seems improbable that it should have been neglected, and may, perhaps, have been confounded with other red coloured stones both in the Digest and in the Periplus; what is named Alabanda in the Digest, Dr. Vincent, on the authority of Dutens,* calls a stone between a Ruby and Amethyst. To these are to be added the Lapis Callainus, or Callain stone, a species of Emerald.† Various kinds of

what are called Fine

Stones to distin

*Des Pierres précieuses, et des Pierres fines, par M. L. Dutens.

+ See Dutens, c. vii. p. 36. This author denies that the ancients had any knowledge of the true emerald; and says that the green gems, called Smaragdus, were of an inferior quality to the emeralds brought from Brazil and Peru. I conceive, however, that in this respect he is mistaken. Had I attended to the circumstance sooner, I should have mentioned it to him; and as he was ever open to conviction, I think he would have admitted his error. Unfortunately, we have now to regret his loss. Emeralds of great beauty are seen in India; I possessed one such myself, which I procured there: they are to be found, I believe, in Pegu and

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