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.

    35/1296 (page 23)
    of Arabs, Africans, Somali, Parsi, Hindus, and Jews. The Romans named it Portus Romanicus; and it has risen into or fallen from importance according as the line of commerce has changed. It is mentioned by Marco Polo, and by Marino Sanudo, his contemporary, as the great entrepot of that part of the Indian commerce which came westward by Egypt. It has been identified as the Eden of Ezek. xxvii. 23. It is the Arabia En- daimon of the Periplus. It was fortified by the Turkish sultan, Solyman the Magnificent, but in after years was held by the Arab shaikhs of the surrounding districts, from one of whom, the sultan of Lahej, it was captured by the forces of the East India Company, 19th January 1839, Major T. Baillie commanding. Albuquerque failed in an attack on it in A.D. 1513, and the English and the Dutch temporarily had intercourse with its chiefs. It is merely a small volcanic promon- tory jutting out into the sea, and connected with the Arabian peninsula by a narrow neck of land, across which a low wall has been drawn from shore to shore of the two bays which nearly surround the promontory. The principal harbour, or Back Bay, is about three miles wide at the entrance, and affords an admirable shelter in all weathers for vessels which do not draw more than twenty feet of water. It is unsurpassed by any on the Arabian or adjacent African coasts, being capa- cious, easily made, and free from rocks and shoals. Water of a good quality, but in limited quanti- ties, is found at the head of the valleys within the crater, and to the west of the town. As the wells approach the sea, they become more and more brackish. The Banian well, the best in Aden, is 185 feet deep, the bottom is 70 feet below the level of the sea, and before being drawn it con- tains about 4000 gallons. The wells within the town have an unlimited supply at from 30 to 40 feet, but the water is unfit for drinking. An in- exhaustible supply of water is procurable on the northern coast of the harbour, but the difficulty of bringing it into Aden, and its liability to be cut off by hostile Arabs, render it almost unavailable. Many of the best wells have been excavated since the British conquest, and the oldest does not date further back than a.h. 906 (a.d. 1500). There are now many reservoirs. The crater is nearly circular in form ; its diameter is about a mile and a half, and it is surrounded on the northern, western, and southern sides with precipices chiefly composed of lava, and rising from 1000 to 1776 feet in height, the latter elevation being that of the Jabal Shumsam, a lofty range of volcanic peaks, which form the crater’s western side. The greater part of the volcanic rocks are more or less vesicular. Volcanic ashes were found about 500 feet above the sea, on the summit of the hill near Steamer Point. Aden pumice is mentioned by Dr. Carter as occurring in a small series of strata, consisting of pisolitic paperino, cemented together with glassy, crys- tallized gypsum, and he identifies it with the volcanic matter covering Pompeii. The mode of working the pumice beds in Aden is by running galleries horizontally, or nearly so, into the various strata. The interior of many of these mines presents a fantastic appearance, the galleries radi- ating from a common centre, and being connected one with another, and small pillars of pumice being left to support the roof of the mine. The pumice beds are extensive, but not exceeding four feet in thickness. 4000 lbs. were exported to India in 1876. ADENANTHERA ACULEATA. Roxb. Prosopis aculeata, Konig. I P. spicata, . . Burin. ,, spicigera, Willde. | Chani, Tel. Grows to the size of a tree on the Coromandel side of India, on low lands far from the sea, also in some parts of Hindustan. Its pod is an inch in girth, and 6 to 12 inches long, and contains, besides the seeds, a large quantity of a sweetish agreeable mealy substance, which the people eat. — Voigt, 259 ; Roxb. ii. 371. ADENANTHERA PAVONINA. L. Red-wood. Rakto chandan, . Beng. Y-wai-gyi, . . . Burm. Ranjana, Ranguna, Hind. Ku-chandana, . ,, Thorla-goonj, . . Mahr. Kambhoji, . . . Sansk. Mansiadi, . . . Singh. Madetiye, . . . 99 Manjadi, . . . Tam. Ani gandamani, . >» Bandi gurivenda,. Tel. Manseni kotta, 99 This is a large and handsome tree, growing at times 100 feet high, and found in most of the forests of India; well suited for planting in avenues. It is met with in the Rangoon, Pegu, and Tounghoo districts. It grows also in Silhet, Bengal, Assam, and the Moluccas. The inner wood of large old trees is deep red, hard, solid, and durable, suitable for cabinetmakers’ purposes, from which, in Upper India, it gets its name of Rakto chandan, or red sandal wood; but the true red sandal or red sandars wood of commerce is the Pterocarpus santalinus. A cubic foot weighs 56 lbs. when seasoned; sp. gr. -896. The wood is said to yield a red dye; ground to a paste with water, it is used by Hindus to make sectarian marks on their foreheads. The seeds are of a highly polished, scarlet colour, with a circular streak in their middle on each side, and are used as weights by jewellers, and as beads in bracelets, necklaces, etc. Books represent these as usually weighing four grains, and selected seeds are in use by the Burmese for that weight. Many, how- ever, do not weigh more than two or three grains each. A cement is made by beating them up with borax and water. The powdered seeds are said to be used as a farina; the pulp of the seeds, mixed with honey, is applied externally to hasten suppuration in boils and abscesses.—Hooker's Him. Journ. ii. p. 327; McClelland; Mason; Useful Plants; Jur. Rep. Mad. Ex.; Mendis; Cat. Bengal Ex., 1862; Dance; Voigt, 259; Hog; Roxb. ii. 370. ADENEMA HYSSOPIFOLIA. Don. Cicendia hyssopifolia, Ad. | Chota chirayita, Hind. Common in various parts of South India; is very bitter, and much used by the natives as a stomachic, being also somewhat laxative.—Ind. Ann. Medl. Scien. p. 270; Dr. Cleqhorn. ADENOPHORA LILIFOLIA, Ledeb., or Cam- panula lilifolia. The root of one species, called Sha-san, resembles ginseng, for which in China it is sometimes substituted, as also is the Cam- panula glauca of Japan.—Smith. ADENOSMA ULIGINOSA. R. Br. Ruellia uliginosa, Linn. One of the Acanthacese. The juice of its leaves, mixed with salt, is used on the Malabar coast as a purifier. A. balsamea has a strong odour of turpentine.—Roxb. iii. 52 ; Hog; Voigt, 482. ADEPS MYRISTICiE, a concrete oil obtained