cases; but near the Ganges maize has been introduced in its stead; and it is to be regretted, that the

practice has not yet extended into the interior, as the produce of maize is larger, and there can be nb doubt, that the grain is belter, although as yet the natives give a higher price for the maruya. This grain is chiefly used in unleavened cakes, but is occasionally made into unboiled puddings. The straw is preserved for fodder. Next to maruya maize is the culmiferous grain most common in these districts, but as yet it is confined almost entirely to (he banks of the Ganges. The stems both green and ripe are given to cattle, but the former only are thought good. The natives are very fond of the grain, when quite young, parched in the cob. Next to maize the greatest enlmiferous crop is the species of Paspalum mentioned in my account of Bhagalpur. It is supposed to be of two kinds, male called Kodo, and female called Kodai. The former is by far the most common. Both are sown at the same time, but the Kodai ripens rather earliest. The greater part is sown on high poor land intermixed with Arahar. Some fields of it here also have an intoxicating quality, and if is said, that even those who reap such fields become intoxicated during flio operation. It has been already mentioned, that n particular kind of lameness may be perhaps attributed to the use of this intoxicating straw; but more people think it owing to (he use of Khesari; and the poor very generally sleep on the straw of Kodo in winter, as it is softer and warmer than rice stubble. Cattle eat it, but it is not thought good fodder. The grain is boiled like rice. good deal of Kangni {Panicmn italicum) is reared in high lands near the villages. It thrives best in a mixed soil. About (he same quantity of (he Holcus called Janera is cultivated, but the culture of this grain is confined (o (he banks of the Ganges, where it grows luxuriantly, while the Kangni. being spread over the whole country, makes little show. In order to distinguish it from maize, it is usually called Gehungya (or wheat like) Janera; and it is

divided into three kinds, .Raksa, Masuriya, and sarkatiya; but I have not been able to ascertain exactly,* to which species of Holcus each of these belongs. In fact there seems to be great reason to suspect, that three or four of the kinds of Holcus distinguished by botanists, are much more nearly allied to each other than the different kinds of rice which the learned choose to consider as belonging to one species. It seems here also to be rapidly giving way to maize. It is often planted in a row round the fields of maize, as a kind of hedge. Next to the Gehungya Janera, the most important of the culmiferous crops, is the kindred plant called Sama or Kheri in Puraniya and Bhagalpur. China, or the Panicum-miliaceum of botanists, is here the least considerable of the culmiferous grains. Here there are only three crops, Je thuya, Bhadaiya, and Maghra, so called from the months in which they are reaped. In these districts China is used at marriages, but is not considered as so indispensibly necessary as in Bhagalpur. Part 2nd of leguminous Plants. The greatest leguminous crop is Khesari (Lathyrus-sativus), the quantity of which sown among rice stubble is very great, and in the inundated land some is sown by itself without previous culture. All through Magadha this grain is the common material for making curries; but the poor also use it for cakes fried in oil (bara), or parch it, reduce it to flour, and make it into little balls of paste, which are fried in oil. All these preparations are only used as a seasoning with rice, or other culmiferous grains. This pulse is considered as remarkably ^unhealthy, and a Bengalese would give himself up in despair were he compelled to use it for a few ^ s , even as a seasoning for his food; but this ;8eems to be a mere prejudice, the Door people here l^ing much more healthy than the Bengalese. Next to Khesari the But or Cicer arietinuvi is the most important leguminous crop. The greater part is sown on land which the people cannot |$Wer, either from want of reservoirs or industry, land which gives no other crop in the year; and

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LEGUMINOUS PLANTS

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS

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such a crop may be always considered as a proof of bad farming; because this grain might be always raised as a second crop, either sown among rice stubble, or after some of the culmiferous plants that come to maturity in the rainy season. Accordingly it is chiefly reared near the Son, and in the southern parts of Sheykhpurah, where the system of agriculture is very bad. A great deal is exported, and the price has of late been enormously enhanced, probably owing to much less being now raised, as with industry other crops are, no doubt, more valuable. The variety called Kabali-but, which has a white flower, is very scarce. That most generally cultivated has a red flower, and is most commonly called Chana. The Pea- (Pisum) is the leguminous crop next in consequence. Linnaeus divided this grain into two species, but the authors of the Encyclopdie Mthodique consider the differences as too trivial to constitute a proper distinction, and hold the different kinds of pea as mere varieties; and certainly they differ much less than the various plants classed by Linnaeus in the same species with cabbage; while all the marks by which the great Swedish botanist has attempted to distinguish the different kinds of pea will be found liable to vary even in the same individual. The colours of the flowers and seed are vastly more constant. In this district, besides those reared from European seed in the gardens near Patna, three kinds of Pea are in common cultivation. The first and best, called Kabali Matar and Ujarka, has a large white seed and white flower. Most commonly there are two flowers on each common stem, but to this there are many exceptions, and to use the botanical term, the flowers are often solitary, The pea. next in size and value is called simply Matar, Keras or Dabli. Its seed is about the size of the field pea reared in Scotland, and like that it has a flower of various shades of red; but the seed is not spotted and is of a yellowish green colour. The flowers of this are generally solitary, but sometimes they grow by pairs. "The third kind of pea is called Kusi, Sugiya, Kara or Vasovar. It has

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k *\

a flower like the last, but its seed is much smaller, and is spotted. The leaves are sometimes denticulated, but very often entire, as in both the others is always the case. This is probably the field pea of France, which, the authors of the Encyclopdie say, is so small that it is only of use for feeding pigeons. Some peas are sown on the mud of inundated lands, as the water retires; some are sown among standing rice to grow after that has been reaped; some are sown mixed with barley, and forms what is called Jaokerao; some is sown on watered land, as a winter crop, intermixed with various other articles. These are by far the best. Peas by the natives are used either split (dal), or made into flour, and all the meals of unparched pulses are here called besan. From the meal of peas are prepared sweetmeats, and paste balls (bari) for curries. Peas are also used alone for food, either parched or boiled, and eaten with a little salt. Next to peas the lentil (Ervum Lens) is the most common pulse, and is only of one kind, called Masur. It, is only used in curries, either split or made into paste balls. The Knt hi, or Kurt hi (Dolichos Biflorus), mentioned in my account of Puraniya is the next : most common leguminous plant, and is used either 'split in curries,"or to form the kind of pudding called Chhattu, in which case it is, as usual, j"parched and then reduced to meal. Arahar or the Cytisus Cajan is next most comjmon pulse. The whole reared here is of the kind |which in Puraniya is called Vaisakhi; no distinct i o n s are therefore used. Next in importance is the Mung or Sehamung. f 'he term Mung is applied among the natives very Indistinctly to several species or varities of the ffhaseolus which have a hairy legumen, Iri geneSal they are entirely guided in their discrimination by the colour of the seed, from whence they speak | (Seha) black, (Sona) golden and (Kari) green [Mungs; but they apply these names with great ^fusion. The" Mung* of this district, which I Examined at Bar, all/my Calcutta people agreed

{'LAMS PRODUCING OIL

503

was what in that city is called Sona or golden, but its seed was green dotted with black; and in most. parts of this district the same plant is called the Sena or black kind, and its seed entirely resembles the Thakuri of Dinajpur which I have considered as the Phaseolus Mar of botanists. My people will not however allow that the two plants are the same, and as I have not seen the Thakuri in flower, I will not take upon myself to decide the question. The Mung of this district is however abundantly distinct from the Kari or Vaisakhi Mung of the Puraniya district, which I take Io be the Phaseolus Mungo of botanists. The pulse of next importance is here called Bhringgi or Mothi and is the Phaseolus aconitifolius of Willdenow. When split, or made into paste balls, it is used in curries, and its seed is given by the natives to horses. I suspect, although my native assistants consider the Mothi and Bhringgi as the same, that the former is the Meth of Bhagalpur, a distinct (hough kindred species of Phaseolus; for at Bar I saw both plants growing; but in the tables of produce no notice is taken of the Meth, unless Mothi is the same. Next in importance to this is the Urid, of which (here are two kinds, one with a green seed, which seems to me to have been described by Kheede (in (he 8th volume of the Hortus Malabaricus, piafe 50) by the name of Kalu Ulunu. The other kind seems to be the Pvsiia Paeru of the same author (plate 37), and lias brown seeds. In the Bhagalpur district the former was called Mash Kalai or Urid and the latter was there called Aghani Kalai. The natives however speak of these plants with fully as much indistinctness as they do concerning the kinds of Mung. In the tables of produce Urid and Mash Kalai are considered as the same, but what was brought to me as the rid at Duriyapur was the Aghani-Kalni of Bhagalpur, while thai term is not in use in these districts, where the two kinds of Urid are called Mash-kalai and Bhadai-kalai. Next to Urid the Bh et mash mentioned in the account of Puraniya and the Caelhnn of Rnmph is the most common pulse.

The least important of the pulses in these districts is the Ghangra or Bora mentioned in the account of Bhagalpur. What I saw at Duriyapur, although called Bora, was the variety with the smaller seeds. It is much cultivated in gardens, but the fields of it are confined to Nawada, Part 3rd : of plants producing Oil.By far the greater part of the oil in these districts is produced from cruciform plants, of which three are in common use; but every thing concerning their nomenclature is in the utmost confusion. In the tables of produce it is considered that the Turi Ratui and Gota are the same species, which is that most commonly cultivated. The plant brought to me in Nawada as Tori, which ?? although differently spelt, I presume is the same ~ with Turi. was the same with that called__Turi and Gota in the Bhagalpur district; but at Patna a \\ plant called Torai, no doubt the same name, is \\ different from the above, being the Turi of Dinajpur, while the Tori of Nawada is the Sorisha of that district. ,. The plant that was brought to me as the Sarso of these districts, no doubt the same name with the I^Sorisha of Dina j pur, was the same with the Sarshong or Piri of the Bhagalpur list, the seed of rhich is hotter than that of the preceding, but not [ear so hot as mustard. ijfj.The Siiapi Amboinacum of Humph is the lyi of this district, where no great quantity is Hivated. fhNext to these cruciform plants, linseed (Tisi) most cultivated for its oil; and the retailers are very generally accused of adulterating the oil with that of linseed, which is much iper. In Patna the oil of linseed mixed with that of py seed is that most commonly used for the >,. and the poppy might rio doubt have been introduced ; but as opium is its most valuable luce, I shall consider it under a different he&d. or Sesamum is raised in very considerable [titles, especially mixed with Janera on the *a of the Ganges.