29. Νάρδος (Sans. _nalada_, ‘kaskas,’ Heb. _nerd_) Nard, Spikenard.[11] Gangetic spikenard brought down the Ganges to Gangê, near its mouth (63), and forwarded thence to Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). Spikenard produced in the regions of the Upper Indus and in Indo-Skythia forwarded through Ozênê to Barugaza (48). Imported by the Egyptians from Barugaza and Barbarikon in Indo-Skythia (49, 39). The _Nardos_ is a plant called (from its root being shaped like an ear of corn) νάρδου στάχυς, also ναρδόσταχυς, Latin _Spica nardi_, whence ‘spikenard.’ It belongs to the species _Valeriana_. “No Oriental aromatic,” says Vincent, “has caused greater disputes among the critics or writers on natural history, and it is only within these few years that we have arrived at the true knowledge of this curious odour by means of the inquiries of Sir W. Jones and Dr. Roxburgh. Pliny describes the nard with its _spica_, mentioning also that both the leaves and the _spica_ are of high value, and that the odour is the prime in all unguents; the price 100 denarii for a pound. But he afterwards visibly confounds it with the Malabathrum or Betel, as will appear from his usage of _Hadrosphærum_, _Mesosphærum_, and _Microsphærum_, terms peculiar to the Betel”—II. 743-4. See Sir W. Jones on the spikenard of the ancients in As. Res. vol. II. pp. 416 _et seq._, and Roxburgh’s additional remarks on the spikenard of the ancients, vol. IV. pp. 97 _et seq._, and botanical observations on the spikenard, pp. 433. See also Lassen, _Ind. Alt._ vol. I. pp. 288 _et seq._ 30. Ναύπλιος—Nauplius. Exported in small quantity from the marts of Azania (17). The signification of the word is obscure, and the reading suspected. For ΝαΥΠλιος Müller suggests ΝαΡΓΙλιος, the Indian cocoanut, which the Arabians call _Nargil_ (Sansk. _nârikêla_ or _nâlikêra_, Guj. _nâliyêr_, Hindi _nâliyar_). It favours this suggestion that cocoanut oil is a product of Zangibar, and that in four different passages of Kosmas Indikopleustês nuts are called αργελλια, which is either a corrupt reading for ναργελλια, or Kosmas may not have known the name accurately enough.