[12] Jahangir, eldest son of the Emperor Akbar, reigned A.D. 1605-27.

[13] ’The first order that I issued was for the setting up of a Chain of
    Justice, so that if the Officers of the Courts of Justice should fail
    in the investigation of the complaints of the oppressed, the injured
    person might come to this chain and shake it, and so give notice of
    their wrongs.  I ordered that the chain should be made of pure gold,
    and be thirty gaz [yards] long, with sixty bells upon it.  The
    weight of it was four Hindustani mans [8 lb.] of ’Irak. 
    One end was firmly attached to a battlement of the fort of Agra, the
    other to a stone column on the bank of the river’ (Memoirs of
    Jahangir in Sir H.M.  Elliot, History of India, vi. 284).  It
    does not appear that this silly contrivance was ever used, and it was
    meant only for parade.  Raja Anangpal had already set up a
    similar bell at Delhi (ibid. vi. 262, iii. 565).

[14] Dhobi.

[15] Jahan-panah.

[16] Karim Khan, of the Zand tribe, defeated the Afghans and
    secured the Kingdom of Fars or Southern Persia, with his capital at
    Shiraz.  He died at an advanced age, A.D. 1779 (Sir J. Malcolm,
    History of Persia, 1829, ii. 58 ff.).

[17] Allah Karim, Ap Karim, Main Karim.

[18] Chilam, the clay bowl of a water-pipe:  its contents.

[19] Mazdur, a day labourer.

LETTER XXI

Natural Productions of India.—­Trees, shrubs, plants, fruits, &c.—­Their different uses and medicinal qualities.—­The Rose.—­Native medical practice.—­Antidote to Hydrophobia.—­Remedy for the venom of the Snake.—­The Chitcherah (Inverted thorn).—­The Neam-tree.—­The Hurrundh (Castor-tree).—­The Umultass (Cassia-tree).—­The Myrtle.—­The Pomegranate.—­The Tamarind.—­The Jahmun.—­The Mango.—­The Sherrefah.—­White and red Guavers.—­The Damascus Fig.—­The Peach, and other Fruits.—­The Mahdhaar (Fire-plant).—­The Sirrakee and Sainturh (Jungle-grass).—­The Bamboo, and its various uses enumerated.

In Europe we are accustomed to cultivate the rose merely as an ornament of the garden.  This is not the case with my Indian acquaintance; they cultivate the rose as a useful article, essential to their health, and conducive to their comfort.

The only rose I have ever seen them solicitous about is the old-fashioned ‘hundred-leaf’ or cabbage-rose’.[1] Where-ever a Mussulmaun population congregate these are found planted in enclosed fields.  In the month of September, the rose trees are cut down to within eight inches of the surface of the earth, and the cuttings carefully planted in a sheltered situation for striking, to keep up a succession of young trees.  By the first or second week in December the earliest roses of the season are in bloom on the new wood, which has made its way from the old stock in this short period.  Great care is taken in gathering the roses to preserve every bud for a succession.  A gardener in India is distressed when the Beeby Sahibs[2] (English ladies) pluck roses, aware that buds and all are sacrificed at once.  I shall here give a brief account of the several purposes to which the rose is applied.