Another is the cocoanut-tree, or nārgīl, which the Arabs call nārjīl, and the Hindustānis* nālīr by a vulgar error. The fruit of the cocoanut-tree is the Hindi nut, of which the black spoons are made. Of the larger sort they also make the sounding-cup of the ghichek (or guitar). The tree resembles the date, but the branch of the cocoa is much fuller of leaves, and the leaves are of a much brighter colour. As the walnut has a green outer skin, so has this; but the outer covering of the cocoanut is in threads,* and the cordage of all the ships and boats of the rivers are made of this outer covering of the cocoanut, and the joinings of boats are sewn* with threads made of the same stuff. When this skin is stripped off, three holes are seen, forming a triangle on one side of the nut, two of them closed and hard; the other is soft, and with little trouble is made into a hole. Before the kernel is formed within, the whole inside of the cocoanut is filled with water, which they drink by opening this hole; it has an agreeable taste. You would say that it was the cheese of the date melted.

Tār (or
palm).

Another is the tār, or palm-tree.* The branches of this tree also are on its top. They tie a pot on the palm as they do on the date-tree, and so extract and drink its juice. This juice they call tāri. It is more intoxicating than the liquid of the date-tree. There is no leaf on the branches of the palm for a gaz or* a gaz and a half from its root.* After that, thirty or forty leaves sprout out from the same centre at the end of the branch, spreading like the fingers of the hand. These leaves may be about a gaz in length. Hindi letters are often written bookwise on these leaves. The natives of Hindustān, also, at the times when they do not wear ear-rings, put into the large open holes in their ears slips of the palm leaf,* which are sold in the bazaar, ready made for the purpose. The trunk of this tree is handsomer than that of the date, and more stately.*

Nāranj (or
orange).

They have, besides, the nāranj (or Seville orange), and the various fruits of the orange species.* The orange grows in Lamghānāt, Bajour, and Sawād, where it is both plenti­ful and good. The orange of Lamghānāt is small, but juicy, and pleasant for quenching thirst. It is sweet-smelling, delicate, and fresh.* It is not, however, to be compared with the oranges about Khorasān. Its delicacy is such, that in carrying from Lamghānāt to Kābul, which is only thirteen or fourteen farsangs, many of them are spoilt by the way. They carry the oranges of Asterābād to Samar­kand, which is two hundred and seventy or two hundred and eighty farsangs* off; but as they have a thick peel and little juice, they are not apt to be much injured. The size of the oranges of Bajour may be about that of the quince.* They are very juicy, and their juice is more acid than that of other oranges. Khwājeh Kalān tells me that he made the oranges of a single tree of this species in Bajour be plucked off, and counted, and they amounted to seven thousand. It always struck me that the word nāranj (orange) was accented in the Arab fashion;* and I found that it really was so: the men of Bajour and Sawād call nāranj, nārang.

Lime.

Another is the lime,* which is very plentiful. Its size is about that of a hen’s egg, which it resembles in shape. If one who is poisoned, boils and eats its fibres, the injury done by the poison is averted.*

Turanj (or
citron)

Another fruit resembling the nāranj (or orange) is the turanj (or citron). The inhabitants of Bajour and Sawād call it baleng. On this account, marmalades of citron-peel are called baleng marmalade. The Hindustānis call the turanj, the bajouri. It is of two species. One is insipid and sweet, but of a sickly sweet, and is of no value for eating; but its peel is used for marmalade. The citrons of Lamghā­nāt are all of this sickly sweet. The other is the citron of Hindustān and Bajour, which is acid, and its sherbet is very pleasant and tasteful. The size of the citron may be about that of the Khosravi musk-melon. Its skin is rough, rising and falling in knobs.* Its extremity is thin and knobbed.* The citron is of a deeper yellow than the orange. Its tree has not a large trunk. It is small and shrubby, and has larger leaves than the orange.

Santereh
(or common
orange).

The santereh (or orange) is another fruit resembling the nāranj (or Seville orange). In colour and appearance it is like the citron, but the skin of this fruit is smooth, and without any unevennesses. It is rather smaller than the small citron. Its tree is large, perhaps about the size of the small* apricot-tree. Its leaf resembles the nāranj leaf. It has a pleasant acid, and its sherbet is extremely agreeable and wholesome. Like the lime it is a powerful stomachic, and it is not a weakening fruit like the citron.*

Kilkil (or
large lime).

Another fruit of the orange kind, is the larger lime, which, in Hindustān, they call the kilkil lime. In shape it is like a goose’s egg, but does not, like the egg, taper away at the two extremities. The skin of this species is smooth, like that of the santereh. It has a remarkable quantity of juice.

Jambīri.

Another fruit resembling the orange is the jambīri. In shape it is like the orange, but is of a deeper* yellow. It is not, however, an orange,* though* its smell is like that of the orange. This fruit, too, yields a pleasant acid.

Sadaphal.

Another of the orange kind is the sadaphal, which is shaped like a pear, and in colour resembles the quince. It has a sweet taste, but not so mawkish as the sweet orange.

Amratphal.

The amratphal is another of the fruits resembling the orange.*

Kirneh.

Another of the orange kind is the kirneh, which may be about the size of the kilkil lime. This too is tart.

Amil-bīd

Another resembling the orange is the amil-bīd. I have seen it first during this present year.* They say that if a needle be thrust into the heart of it, it melts away.* Perhaps this may proceed from its extreme acidity, or from some other of its properties. Its acidity may be about equal to that of the orange and lime.*

Jāsūn or
gurhal.

In Hindustān there is great variety of flowers. One is the jāsūn,* which some Hindustānis call the gurhal. It is not a grass; the shrub on which it grows is tall; its bush is larger than the red-rose bush; its colour is deeper than that of the pomegranate. Its size may be about that of the red rose; but the red rose, after the bud is formed, opens all at once, whereas when the jāsūn opens from its bud, from the midst of the cup that first expands, a thing like a heart becomes visible, after which the other leaves of the flower spring out; though these two form a single flower, yet the thing like a heart in the midst of it, which springs from these leaves and forms another flower, has a very singular appearance.* It looks very rich coloured and beautiful on the tree, but does not last long, as it withers in a single day, and disappears. It blows very charmingly for the four months of the rainy season. It continues to flower during the greater part of the year, but has no perfume.

Kanīr.

Another is the kanīr,* which is sometimes white, and sometimes red; and is five-leaved, like the flower of the peach. The red kanīr resembles the peach flower, but fourteen or fifteen kanīr flowers blow from the same place, and from a distance they look like one large flower. The shrub of this flower is larger than the bush of the jāsūn.* The smell of the red kanīr, though weak, is pleasant. This also blossoms incessantly, and in great beauty, during the whole three or four months of the rainy season; and is, besides, to be met with during the greater part of the year.

Keūreh.