CHAP. 29.—CARDAMOMUM.

Similar to these substances, both in name as well as the shrub which produces it, is the cardamomum,[1] the seeds of which are of an oblong shape. It is gathered in the same manner both in India and Arabia. There are four different kinds of cardamomum. That which is of a very green colour, unctuous, with sharp angles, and very difficult to break, is the most highly esteemed of all. The next best is of a reddish white tint, while that of third-rate quality is shorter and blacker, the worst of all being mottled and friable, and emitting but little smell; which, in its genuine[2] state ought to be very similar to costum. Cardamomum grows also in Media. The price of the best is three denarii per pound.

1. Still known in pharmacy as "cardamum." It is not, however, as Pliny says, found in Arabia, but in India; from which it probably reached the Greeks and Romans by way of the Red Sea. There are three kinds known in modern commerce, the large, the middle size, and the small. M. Bonastre, "Journal de Pharmacie," May, 1828, is of opinion, that the word cardamomum signifies "amomum in pods," the Egyptian kardh meaning "pod," or "husk." It is, however, more generally supposed, that the Greek word, kardi/a, "heart," enters into its composition.

2. "Verus" seems a preferable reading here to "vero," which has been adopted by Sillig.