1 180
2 the preparation of which I now give — Any quantity of nux
3 vomica is macerated or immersed in warm milk, the milk being
4 poured off, and fresh milk substituted every day, for seven
5 consecutive days ; on the eighth day the nux vomica is sus-
6 pended by inclosing it in a linen cloth, in a stewpan filled with
7 new milk, and boiled; the nuts are then peeled and split, and the
8 internal germ removed and thrown away (the latter being con-
9 sidered poisonous) they are then washed, dried, and rasped to
10 powder, which is afterwards boiled in honey. The following
11 spices, mixed with twice their weight of honey, are then added to
12 complete the electuary, viz. — white, black, and long peppers,
13 cinnamon, nutmeg, betel-nut, mastic, English galangale, Emblic
14 myrobalon, Indian spikenard, cardamoms, cumin seeds, fennel
15 seeds, small fennel-flower seeds, saffron, ginger, cloves, aloes
16 wood, guiacum wood, sandal wood, and Xylobalsam. The dose
17 of this medicine is half a drachm to one drachm ; and it is
18 recommended as an anodyne, hypnotic, and aphrodisiac; also,
19 as being valuable in removing palsy, curing gout, stopping
20 catarrh, strengthening the stomach, &c.
21 I could introduce a great variety of anecdotes illustrative
22 of the manners, customs, &c. of the inhabitants of Cashmere,
23 and the peculiarities of their country, which have never yet
24 been published, did the object of my work permit. I may,
25 however, mention a curious species of theft which is sometimes
26 perpetrated there. On the lakes in Cashmere are large numbers
27 of floating gardens, or, masses of weeds, upon which earth
28 is thrown, and they serve as beds for cultivating melons,
29 cucumbers, turnips, carrots, cabbages, egg-plant-apples, and
30 different other culinary vegetables. If, however, the gardener
31 does not keep a watch over this moveable property, he may
32 perhaps find, that during the night, the garden itself has
33 been cut from its fastenings and removed ; and as, in these
34 cases, the thief joins the stolen mass to a similar one of his own
35 (thus completely altering its shape, position, &c.) it is rarely
36 possible to identify the garden, or, discover the perpetrator of
37 the robbery.