Volume 1

The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia : commercial, industrial and scientific, products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures / by Edward Balfour.

  • Balfour, Edward, 1813-1889.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia : commercial, industrial and scientific, products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures / by Edward Balfour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/1296 (page 4)
    ABHIYADAYA. ABKHQRA. Abhishegam ceremony are found in the earliest antiquity. Several primitive races had a kind of sacrifice called a libation, which was performed by pouring some fluid, but especially oil, in honour of the divinity.. The Hindus of India have pre- served this custom, not only in respect to the lingam, but also in honour of their other deities. They usually offer them libations, wash them with cocoa-nut oil, melted butter, or water of the Ganges. They often rub them with oil or butter when they address prayers or present offerings to them, so that all their idols are black, smoked, plastered, and dirtied with a fetid grease. The Talopoins of Pegu and Ava, and the priests of Siam, also wash their idols with milk, oil, and other liquids. The Jews had sacred stones, which they anointed with oil, and to which they give the name of Betyle.—Sonnerat's Voyage, pp. 159, 160. See Betyle; Eagle Stones; Ban-lang; Sala- gram; Stone Worship. ABHIYADAYA, in Hinduism, offerings to the manes of an individual’s progenitors. ABI. Hind. Land cultivated by artificial irrigation from streams or tanks. Lallam, in Af- ghanistan, means cultivation dependent on natural rains. ABID. Arab. A devout person; constantly engaged in the worship of God. AB-i-DHANG. Pers. This is a usual drink amongst the Ilyats in Northern Persia. It is butter milk weakened with water, and to which a little salt is added. ABIES, the fir genus of trees of the coni- ferous tribe, known for their valuable timber. Species of several coniferous plants, abies, cedrus, cupressus, juniperus, picea, pinus, and taxus, grow in the Himalaya, in Japan, the Philippines, and China. A. Araragi, Siebold, is a Japan tree with a brown wood, used for various domestic purposes; and the A. Momi, Sieb., also of Japan, is valued for the whiteness and fine grain of its wood. A. leptolepis, A. firma, 100 to 120 feet, A. bifida, 90 to 100 feet, and A. tsuga, 60 to 70 feet, grow on Mount Fusiyama. —Hooker's Him. Journ.; Hodgson's Nagasaki; Panjab Report. See Coniferse. ABIES BRUNONIANA. Hooker. Pinus Brunoniana, Wall. | P. dumosa, Lamb. Deciduous silver fir, Eng. | Semadoung, . . . Tib. Grows in Nepal, Bhutan, and at Gossain Than. A beautiful species, which forms a stately pyramid growing to 70 or 80 feet, with a trunk 15 to 20 feet, and with branches spreading like the cedar, but not so stiff, and drooping gracefully on all sides. The wood is not durable; its bark is, however, very useful. Dr. Hooker found stacks of different sorts of pinewood stored for export to Tibet, all thatched with the bark of Abies Brunoniana. In the dense and gigantic forest of Abies Brunoniana and silver fir, he measured one of the larger trees, and found it 28 feet in girth. It grows occasionally in dense forests to a height of 70 to 80 feet, with a clear trunk of from 14 to 20 feet, and a spreading, very branching head. Abies Kaempferi, the Pinus Kaempferi, Lamb, a native of Japan, is found wild upon the mountains of Fako.—Eng. Cyc.; Hooker's Him. Journ. ABIES SMITHIANA. W. Himalayan spruce. Kachan . . of Jhelum. | Seh, Lep. A handsome tree, common in many parts of the Panjab Himalaya, at from 3500 to 11,000 feet. Trees of 10 to 12 feet girth, and 130 to 140 feet high, are not unfrequent. Thomson notes one of 17, Madden mentions one of 20, and Dr. Stewart had seen one of 21, feet girth. The timber is soft and light, often with much sap-wood, and the fibres are frequently twisted. It is the least valued of all the conifers, by the natives, for construction. In some parts, however, especially on the Beas, it is largely used for shingles, which are said to last for two or three years, and under cover it will last twice that period.—Hooker's Him. Journ.; Stewart's Panjab Plants; Cleghorn's Punjab Report; Royle. ABIES WEBBIANA. Hooker. Pinus spectabilis, Lamb. \ P. Webbiana, Wall. Cliilrow, of Himalaya. I Gobrea, Sallur, Panj. Tos of KULUand Kangba. | Oonum, Dunsbing, Hind. ? This fir tree grows at great elevations on the Himalaya, where it is one of the principal orna- ments of the forests. It attains a height of 80 or 90 feet. At Choongtam this tree attains 35 feet in girth, with a trunk unbranched for 40 feet. According to Dr. Hooker, it splits well, is white, soft, and highly prized for durability, but Dr. Cleghorn says it is not much valued, and is used for shingles.—Hooker's Him. Journ.; Royle's III. Him. Botany ; Timber Trees; Panjab Report. AB-i-GUM. Pers. Literally ‘lost water,’ thirty-six miles from the east entrance of the Bolan pass. The stream in the pass sinks into the loose pebbly stratum,but, percolating through, it reappears at Bihi Nani some miles below.— MacGregor's Beluchistan. AB-i-MA. Pers. Literally ‘ mother of the waters; ’ the Amu Daria, or Oxus river. ABIR. Arab. Crocus sativus, Linn. ABIR. Hind. A perfumed cosmetic powder, which is rubbed on the face or body, or sprinkled on clothes to scent them. There are many re- ceipts for it; one kind is composed of rice flour, or the powdered bark of the mango tree or deodar, camphor, and aniseed. A superior kind is pre- pared from powdered sandal wood or wood-aloes, Curcuma zerumbet (Kuchoor), or Curcuma zedo- aria (ambi huldee), rose flowers, camphor, and civet cat perfume, pounded, sifted, and mixed. In every case it is a mixed cosmetic perfume, and other ingredients used are yellow sandal, violets, orange flowers, aloes wood, musk, true spikenard, and rose-water. It is a term applied in India to any perfumed powder, and is also often given to Curcuma zerumbet and saffron.— Herklots. AB-i-SHEREEN. Pers. The Hindyan river. AB-ISTADA, a lake 17 miles long, 65 miles S.S.W. of Ghazni. ABJAD. Arab. The name of an arithmetical verse, the letters of which have different powers, from one to a thousand. This was the ancient order of the alphabet as it is now used in the Hebrew alphabet. The system is much used in chronograms and in books of astronomical tables. ABKARRY. Hind. Excise revenue derived in India from duties levied on the manufacture and sale of inebriating liquors, as toddy, pachwai, and arrack; also on intoxicating drugs, whether in substance, infusion, or extract, as opium, bhang, churrus ; also on certain licensed distilleries, and on shops licensed to sell by retail.— Wilson. ABKHORA. Hind. A drinking pot, with or without a spout (tuti) ; it has a handle and lid.