The learned Kamalakantha Vidyalanka has traced a notice of hemp in the 5th chapter of _Menu_, where Brahmins are prohibited to use the following substances--_palandoo_ or onions, _gunjara_ or _gunjah_, and such condiments as have strong and pungent scents. The Arabic and Persian writers are, however, far more voluminous and precise in their accounts of these fascinating preparations. In the 1st vol. of De Sacy’s “Crestomathie Arabe” we find an extremely interesting summary of the writings of Takim Eddin Makrizi on this subject. Lane has noticed it too with his usual ability in his admirable work, “the Modern Egyptians.” From these two sources, the MS. notes of the Syed Keramut Ali and Mr. DaCosta, and a curious paper communicated by our friend Mirza Abdul Razes, a most intelligent Persian physician, the following epitome is compiled:-- Makrizi treats of the hemp in his glowing description of the celebrated Canton de la Timbaliere, the ancient pleasure grounds, in the vicinity of Cairo. This quarter, after many vicissitudes, is now a heap of ruins. In it was situated a cultivated valley named Djoneina, which we are informed was the theatre of all conceivable abominations. It was famous above all for the sale of the _hasheeha_, which is still greedily consumed by the dregs of the populace, and from the consumption of which sprung the excesses which led to the name of “assassin” being given to the Saracens in the Holy Wars. The history of the drug the author treats of thus:--The oldest work in which hemp is noticed is a treatise by Hasan, who states that in the year 658, M. E. the Sheikh Djafar Shirazi, a monk of the order of Haider, learned from his master the history of the discovery of hemp. Haider, the chief of ascetics and self-chasteners, lived in rigid privation on a mountain between Nishabor and Ramah, where he established a monastery of Fakirs. Ten years he had spent in this retreat without leaving it for a moment, till one burning summer’s day when he departed alone to the fields. On his return an air of joy and gaiety was imprinted on his countenance; he received the visits of his brethren and encouraged their conversation. On being questioned, he stated that, struck by the aspect of a plant which danced in the heat as if with joy, while all the rest of the vegetable creation was torpid, he had gathered and eaten of its leaves. He led his companions to the spot,--all ate and all were similarly excited. A tincture of the hemp leaf in wine or spirit seems to have been the favourite formula in which the Sheikh Haider indulged himself. An Arab poet sings of Haider’s _emerald_ cup--an evident allusion to the rich green colour of the tincture of the drug. The Sheikh survived the discovery ten years, and subsisted chiefly on this herb, and on his death his disciples by his desire planted it in an arbour about his tomb.