Travels in India (Tavernier) 106: CHAPTER XXIV Concerning Musk and Bezoar and some other medicinal stones.
Travels in India (Ball) 106
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CHAPTER XXIV Concerning Musk and Bezoar and some other medicinal stones.
106.1
Musk and bezoar being included among the rarest articles of trade, and the most precious which Asia furnishes us with, I have considered it appropriate to devote a chapter to them, and present the reader with some remarks about these two articles. The best kind and the greatest quantity of musk comes from the Kingdom of Bhutan, from whence it is conveyed to Patna, the principal town of Bengal, to be sold to the people of that country. All the musk which is sold in Persia comes from thence, and the merchants who sell musk prefer that you give them in exchange yellow amber and coral, rather than gold and silver, because they make great profits out of these two commodities. I had the curiosity to take a skin of this animal, which is here represented, to Paris. After this animal has been killed, the bladder, which is situated under the belly, is cut off — it is of the size of an egg, and is closer to the genital parts than to the navel. The musk is then extracted from the bladder which contains it — it is then like coagulated blood. When the peasants wish to adulterate it, they insert some of the liver and the blood of the slaughtered animal mixed together, instead of the musk which they have withdrawn. This mixture generates in the bladders certain small worms which eat the good musk, so that when one opens them he finds that much has gone bad.
106.2
Other peasants, when they have cut the bladder and have drawn as much musk as they can without its appearing to be too much, put in its place small pieces of lead to make it heavier. The merchants who buy it and transport it into foreign countries prefer this fraud to the other, because it does not generate these little worms. But the fraud is still more difficult to be discovered when they make small purses of the skin of the animal’s stomach, which they sew up with threads of the same skin, so as to resemble the true bladders ; these purses are filled with what has been removed from the good bladders, together with the fraudulent mixture which is added to it, so that it is difficult for the merchants to discover anything. It is true that if they bind the bladder directly they cut it, without letting the air get to it, and without giving time to the odour to lose some of its strength by evaporation (while they take out what they want to remove), if this bladder should be held to the nose of any one, blood would immediately issue from it in consequence of the pungency of the odour, which for this reason must be tempered to render it agreeable and prevent it from injuring the brain.
106.3
The odour from the skin of this animal, which I took to Paris, was so strong that it was impossible to keep the skin in my rooms, as it caused headache to all the people in the house, and it was necessary to put it in a garret, where at length my servants cut off the bladder — this did not prevent its always retaining something of the odour. You do not begin to meet with this animal till about the 56° of latitude; but at 60° it is in great abundance, the country there being well wooded. It is true that in the months of February and March, after these animals have suffered from famine in their own country on account of the snow, which falls in abundance to depths of 10 or 12 feet, they come south to 44° and 45°, to eat the corn and new rice, and it is at this time that the peasants entrap them, in snares which they set, and kill them with arrows and blows of sticks. Some persons have told me that the deer are so thin and feeble in consequence of the hunger from which they have suffered, that many allow themselves to be captured by coursing. There must be an enormous number of these animals, as each has but one bladder, the largest of which is ordinarily of the size of a hen’s egg, and only yields half an ounce of musk. It sometimes requires even three or four of these bladders to make an ounce.
106.4
The King of Bhutan, of whom I shall speak in the following Book, in the description which I shall give of his Kingdom, fearing that the fraud done in musk might stop the trade, especially as musk is also obtained in Tonquin or Cochin-China, but is much dearer because it is not so abundant there — this King, I say, fearing lest this falsification of goods would divert the trade from his territories, some time ago ordered that the bladders should not be stitched, but should be brought open to Bhutan, which is the place of his residence, to be examined and sealed with his seal. Those which I bought were of this kind ; but notwithstanding all the King’s precautions, the peasants open them secretly, and place small pieces of lead in them, as I have said ; this the merchants tolerate, because the lead does not spoil the musk, and causes no injury, save in the weight. On one of my journeys to Patna I bought 7673 bladders, which weighed 2557½ ounces, and 452 ounces without the bladders. Bezoar comes from a Province of the Kingdom of Golconda, towards the north-east. It is found in the fodder in the paunches of goats which brouse on a tree, the name of which I have forgotten. This plant bears little buds, about which, and also on the tips of the branches, which the goats eat, the bezoar concretes in the bellies of these animals. It assumes a form according to the shape of the buds and the ends of the branches, and this is why one finds it in so many different shapes.
106.5
The peasants, by feeling the belly of the goat, know how many bezoars it contains, and they sell the goat for a price in proportion to the number which are therein. In order to ascertain this, they run both hands under the belly of the goat and beat the paunch along both sides, so that all the stones fall to the middle thereof, and they then estimate exactly, by touch, how many bezoars are in it. The value of bezoar depends on the size, although the small possess no less virtue than the large. But in this respect one is often deceived by the fact that there are people who enlarge the bezoar with a kind of paste made of gum and other materials of the same colour as the bezoar. They understand, even, how to give as many coats as the natural bezoar ought to have. One can detect this fraud easily by two methods. The first by weighing the bezoar and placing it to steep for some time in lukewarm water; if the water does not change its colour, and if the bezoar does not lose weight, it has not been adulterated. The other means is to touch the bezoar with a pointed hot iron; if the iron enters it and makes it fry, it is a sign that it is a mixture, and that it is not genuine. For the rest, the larger the bezoar the higher the price, which rises in proportion like that of the diamond. For if 5 or 6 bezoars weigh an ounce, the ounce will be worth from 15 to 18 francs, but if it is a bezoar of one ounce, the ounce will be worth fully 100 francs.
106.6
I have sold one of 4¼ ounces for as much as 2000 livres. I had the curiosity to investigate all that can be ascertained regarding bezoar, having already made several visits to Golconda, which is the place where there is the most considerable sale of it, without being able to ascertain in what part of the body of the goat it is found. On my fifth journey some individuals who were in the services of the English and Dutch Companies, and who dared not trade on their own account, were indebted to me because I purchased about 60,000 rupees worth of bezoar for them. The merchants who sold it, wishing to show their acknowledgment, and to make me some present, I refused, and told them I had never taken anything from any one for a service which I was able to render. But I let them know that I would again be able to serve them in the approaching monsoon, and that they would oblige me also, on their part, if they would get three or four of these goats which produce the bezoar for me, promising to pay them for them whatsoever they were worth. The merchants appeared much surprised at this demand, and replied that the prohibition was so strict that if any one was found who dared to remove the goats out of the Province he would be executed without fail.
106.7
I saw plainly that this request troubled them, for on the one side they feared punishment and on the other they were afraid lest I might prevent them from making another sale : this would have been a great loss to these poor people, who, whether they do or do not sell, are obliged to pay the King, for the farm, 6000 old pagodas, which amount to 45,000 livres of our money. Fifteen days afterwards or thereabouts, not having thought anything further about them, three of them knocked at my door before daylight. As soon as they had entered my chamber, where I was still in bed, they asked me if all my servants were foreigners. As I had none from the town, and they were all either Persians or from Surat, I told them they were all foreigners, upon which they withdrew without replying to me. Half an hour afterwards they returned with six of these goats, which I examined at my leisure. It should be said that they are beautiful animals, very tall, and having fine hair, like silk. As soon as the goats were safely in my hall, the eldest of the three merchants who had brought them, beginning to speak by paying me a compliment, told me that since I had not been willing to take the present which they wished to make me, for having procured the sale of so large a parcel of bezoar, at the least I would not refuse these six goats which they gave me with their whole hearts ; but as I did not wish to take them entirely as a gift, as they desired, I asked what the value of them was ;
106.8
and, after having made great difficulty about telling me, I was at length much surprised and thought they were joking when they said that one of the goats which they pointed out was worth three rupees, that each of the two next were worth four rupees, and each of the three which remained four and a quarter rupees. Upon which I asked them why some of the goats were dearer than Others, and I learnt that it was because one had only one bezoar in the stomach, and the others had two or three or four of them; this they made me see for myself, forthwith, by tapping the belly, as I have above described. These six goats had 17 bezoars, and a half one, like the half of a nut. The inside was like the soft dropping of a goat, as these bezoars grow amongst the food in the belly of the goat. Some have told me that bezoars originate close to the liver, others maintain that it is close to the heart, but I was never able to ascertain the truth. Both in the East and West there are an abundance of bezoars obtained from cows, and there are some which weigh up to 17 or 18 ounces, such an one having been given to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. But nothing is thought of this kind of bezoar, six grains of the other having a greater effect than thirty of it.
106.9
As for the bezoar obtained from monkeys, as some believe, it is so strong that two grains of it do as much as six from that of the goat; but it is very rare, and it is found particularly in the species of monkeys which live in the Island of Macassar. This kind of bezoar is round, while the other is of diverse forms, according to the forms of the buds and ends of branches which the goats have eaten. As these stones, which it is believed come from monkeys, are much rarer than the others, they are also much dearer and much more sought after; and when one is found of the size of a nut it is valued at more than 100 écus. The Portuguese, more than Other nations, attach great value to bezoar, because they are always on their guard, one against the other, fearing that an enemy may wish to poison them.
106.10
There is still another much esteemed stone which is called the porcupine stone, which this animal has in its head, and is more efficacious against poison than bezoar. When one has placed it to steep in water for a quarter of an hour, the water becomes so bitter that there is nothing in the world to equal it in bitterness. This animal has also sometimes, in its belly, a stone which is of the same nature and equally good as that which comes from the head, except with this difference, that it loses nothing of its weight or size by steeping in water, while there is diminution of the other. During my life I have bought three of these stones. One cost me 500 écus, and I disposed of it subsequently with advantage to the Ambassador Dominico de Santis, of whom I have spoken in my accounts of Persia. I paid 400 écus for another, which I still keep; and the third was sold to me for 300 dais, and I made a present of it to a friend. I shall finally make mention of the snake-stone, which is nearly of the size of a double, some of them tending to an oval shape, being thick in the middle and becoming thin towards the edges. The Indians say that it grows on the heads of certain snakes, but I should rather believe that it is the priests of the idolaters who make them think so, and that this stone is a composition which is made of certain drugs. Whatever it may be, it has an excellent virtue in extracting all the poison when one has been bitten by a poisonous animal.
106.11
If the part bitten is not punctured it is necessary to make an incision so that the blood may flow ; and when the stone has been applied to it, it does not fall off till it has extracted all the venom which is drawn to it. In order to clean it it is steeped in woman’s milk, or, in default of it, in that of a cow ; and after having been steeped for ten or twelve hours, the milk, which has absorbed all the venom, assumes the colour of matter. One day, when I dined with the Archbishop of Goa, he took me into his museum, where he had many curiosities. Among other things he showed me one of these stones, and in telling me of its properties assured me that it was but three days since he had made trial of it, after which he presented it to me. As he traversed a marsh on the island of Salsette, upon which Goa is situated, on his way to a house in the country, one of his pallankeen bearers, who was almost naked, was bitten by a serpent and was at once cured by this stone. I have bought many of them; it is only the Brahmins who sell them, and it is that which makes me think that they make them. You employ two methods to ascertain if the snake-stone is good, and that there is no fraud. The first is by placing the stone in the mouth, for then, if good, it leaps and attaches itself immediately to the palate.
106.12
The other is to place it in a glass full of water, and immediately, if it is genuine, the water begins to boil, small bubbles ascending from the stone, which is at the bottom, to the top of the water. There is still another stone which is called "stone of the hooded snake." It is a kind of snake which has, as it were, a hood which hangs behind the head, and it is behind this hood that the stone is found, the smallest being of the size of a hen's egg. There are snakes in Africa and in Asia of an enormous size, and up to 25 feet in length, as was that one whose skin is preserved at Batavia. This snake had swallowed a girl of eighteen years, of which fact I have elsewhere given an account. You only find these stones in snakes which are, at the least, two feet in length. The stone, which is not hard, when rubbed against another stone yields a kind of slime which, when dissolved in water and drunk by a person who has some poison in his body, has the property of driving it out at once. These snakes are only to be found on the coasts of Melinda, and you can obtain the stones from Portuguese sailors and soldiers on their return from Mozambique.