chap, xv SEMENCINE OR WORM POWDER 209
the
people of the north, men, women, girls, and boys, suspend them from
their hair and ears. There are in Patna and Dacca more than 2,000
persons who occupy themselves with these trades, all that is produced
by them being exported to the Kingdoms of Bhutan, Assam, Siam, and
other countries to the north and east of the territories of the Great
Mogul.1
As for the semencine,2
or worm powder, it cannot be harvested like other grains. It is a herb
which grows in the fields, and must be allowed to die, and the evil is
that when it approaches maturity the wind causes a great part to fall
among the herbage, where it is lost, and it is this which makes it so
dear. As it cannot be touched by the hand, because it would thereby be
quickly spoilt, and even when taking a sample, it is collected in a
porringer; when they want to gather what remains in the ear, the
following is the method adopted. The people who collect it have two
baskets with handles, and when walking in the fields they wave one of
these baskets from right to left, and the other from left to right, as
though they cut the herb, of which nevertheless they only touch the
upper part—that is to say, the ear, and all the grain thus falls into
the baskets. Semencine also grows in the Province of Kerman,3
but it is not so good as that of Bhutan, and there is not more of it
than is required in the country itself. This grain not only serves to
relieve children from worms, but the Persians and all the people who
live towards-the north, and even the English and Dutch, use it like
aniseed to flavour comfits.
As for rhubarb, it is known to be a root which is cut in pieces, ten or twelve of them being strung together and then dried.
If
the people of Bhutan had as much skill as the Muscovites in slaying the
marten, an abundance of rich furs might be obtained, since there are
numbers of these animals. As soon as it shows its head outside its hole
the Muscovites, who are
1 For the Sankharis, or shell-workers of Dacca and other parts of Eastern Bengal see J. Wise, Notes on the Races, Castes, and Trades of Eastern Bengal, 364 ff. ; T. N. Mukharji, Art-Manufactures of India, 135, 281.
2 See p. 201, n, 5. * In South-East Persia.
