This dreadful root, of which large quantities are annually imported, is equally fatal when taken into the stomach, and applied to wounds, and is in universal use throughout India for poisoning arrows; and there is too much reason to suspect, for the worst of purposes. Its importation would indeed seem to require the attention of the magistrate. The Gorkhalese pretend, that it is one of their principal securities against invasion from the low countries; and that they could so infect all the waters on the route by which an enemy was advancing, as to occasion his certain destruction. In case of such an attempt, the invaders ought, no doubt, to be on their guard; but the country abounds so in springs, that might be soon cleared, as to render such a means of defence totally ineffectual, were the enemy aware of the circumstance. This poisonous species is called _Bish_, _Bikh_, and _Hodoya Bish_ or _Bikh_, nor am I certain whether the _Mitha_ ought to be referred to it, or to the foregoing kind. The _Nirbishi_ or _Nirbikhi_ is another plant of the same genus, and, like the first kind, has no deleterious qualities, but is used in medicine. The President of the Asiatick Society, in a note annexed to Dr Roxburgh’s account of the Zedoary, gives the _Nirbisha_ or _Nirbishi_ as a Sangskrita or Hindwi name of that plant, which has not the smallest resemblance to the _Nirbishi _of the Indian Alps. In fact, the nomenclature of the _materia medica_ among the Hindus, so far as I can learn, is miserably defective, and can scarcely fail to be productive of most dangerous mistakes in the practice of medicine. For instance, the man whom I sent to Thibet for plants brought, as the species which produces the poison, that which was first brought to me as the _Nirbishi_, or kind used in medicine. The _Padam chhal_ is a plant with a thick cylindrical root, that is used in medicine, and brought to the low country for that purpose. The specimen that I procured had one large heart-shaped rough leaf, and had somewhat the appearance of an Anemone. The _Kutki_ is another officinal plant with a woody root, and a stem containing many alternate leaves, toothed on the edges, and shaped like a spathula. It has much the appearance of a saxifrage. The roots are brought for sale. The _Brim_ appears to be one of the orchides, and has a root used in medicine. CHAPTER THIRD. LAWS AND GOVERNMENT. Parts east from the Kali.—Courts and Forms of Proceeding.—Punishments.—Provincial Government.—Revenue and Endowments.—Officers of State.—Military Establishment.—Differences in the parts west from the River Kali.—Revenue and Civil Establishment.—Military Establishment.