It is a curious fact that the Hebrews and the ancient Egyptians[1530] did not know this Indian plant. It is a sign that it did not exist in India from a very remote epoch, but was first a native of the Malay Archipelago. There is an immense number of varieties of the banana in the south of Asia, both on the islands and on the continent; the cultivation of these varieties dates in India, in China, and in the archipelago, from an epoch impossible to realize; it even spread formerly into the islands of the Pacific[1531] and to the west coast of Africa;[1532] lastly, the varieties bore distinct names in the most separate Asiatic languages, such as Chinese, Sanskrit, and Malay. All this indicates great antiquity of culture, consequently a primitive existence in Asia, and a diffusion contemporary with or even anterior to that of the human races. The banana is said to have been found wild in several places. This is the more worthy of attention since the cultivated varieties seldom produce seed, and are multiplied by division, so that the species can hardly have become naturalized from cultivation by sowing itself. Roxburgh had seen it in the forests of Chittagong,[1533] in the form of _Musa sapientum_. Rumphius[1534] describes a wild variety with small fruits in the Philippine Isles. Loureiro[1535][1536] probably speaks of the same form by the name _M. seminifera agrestis_, which he contrasts with _M. seminifera domestica_, which is wild in Cochin-China. Blanco also mentions a wild banana in the Philippines,[1537] but his description is vague. Finlayson[1538] found the banana wild in abundance in the little island of Pulo Ubi at the southern extremity of Siam. Thwaites[1539] saw the variety _M. sapientum_ in the rocky forests of the centre of Ceylon, and does not hesitate to pronounce it the original stock of the cultivated bananas. Sir Joseph Hooker and Thomson[1540] found it wild at Khasia.