[29] Papaiya, the papau tree, Carica papaya, has the curious
    property of making meat tender, if placed near it.

[30] Madar, ak. The latter term is derived from Sanskrit arka,
    ‘the sun’, on account of the fiery colour of its flowers.

[31] The plant yields a silk cotton from the seeds and a rich white bass
    fibre from the bark, both likely to be of commercial value (Watt, ii.
    38 ff.)

[32] Used in equal proportions with black pepper, the fresh blossoms are a
    useful and cheap remedy for asthma, hysteria, and epilepsy (ibid. ii.
    44 ff).

[33] Sirki is the upper portion of the blossoming stem, and
    sentha the lower portion of the reed grass Saccharum ciliare
    (ibid. vi, part ii, 2.)

[34] Sarkanda is the Panjab name for the grass Saccharum
    arundinaceum, but it is also applied to Saccharum ciliare in last
    note (ibid. vi, part ii, 1 f.).

[35] Khaskhas, used for screens, is the root of the grass Andropogon
    muricatus (ibid. i, 245 ff.)

[36] Chhappar.

[37] This is true of the higher class Musalmans; but there were
    splendid gardens in the palaces of the Moghul Emperors:  see C.M. 
    Villiers Stuart, The Gardens of the Great Mughals, 1913.

[38] The subject of the flowering of the bamboo has been investigated by
    Sir G. Watt, who writes:  ’A bamboo may not flower before it has
    attained a certain age, but its blossoming is not fixed so arbitrarily
    that it cannot be retarded or accelerated by climatic influences.  It
    is an undoubted fact that the flowering of the bamboo is decided by
    causes which bring about famine, for the providential supply of food
    from this source has saved the lives of thousands of persons during
    several of the great famines of India.’  Hence the provision of the
    edible seeds by the extension of bamboo cultivation has been
    recommended as a means of mitigating distress (Economic Dictionary,
    vol. i, 373 ff., 386).

[39] Tabashir, bamboo manna, is a siliceous substance found in the
    joints of the bamboo:  considered cooling, toxic, aphrodisiac and
    pectoral, but as a medicinal agent it is inert (ibid. i. 384, Yule,
    Hobson-Jobson[2], 887).

[40] A bullock carriage, Hindustani chhakra (Yule,
    Hobson-Jobson[2], 407 f.).

LETTER XXII

Monkeys.—­Hindoo opinions of their Nature.—­Instances of their sagacity.—­Rooted animosity of the Monkey tribe to the snake.—­Cruelty to each other when maimed.—­The female remarkable for affection to its young.—­Anecdotes descriptive of the belief of the Natives in the Monkey being endowed with reason.—­The Monkeys and the Alligator.—­The Traveller and the Monkeys.—­The Hindoo and the Monkey.