The walnut, or Juc/lans irrjia of botanists, belongs to the natural family of Juglandece, of which the species are found in North America and in Northern Asia. The wahiut itself extends from Greece and Asia Minor over Lebanon and Persia, probably all along the Hindu Khiish to the Himalayas, and is abundant in Cashmere {Him. Bot. p. 3-12). The walnut-tree is well known as a lofty, wide-spreading tree, which affords a grateful shade, and of which the leaves have an agreeable odor when bruised. It seems formerly to have been thought un- wholesome to sit under its shade, but this appears to be incorrect. The flowers begin to open in April, and the fruit is ripe in September and October. The tree is much esteemed for the excellence of its wood; and the kernel of the nut is valued not only as an article of diet, but for the oil which it yields. Being thus known to and highly valued by the Greeks in earlj' times, it is more than probable that, if not indigenous in Syria, it was introduced there at a still earlier period, and that therefore it may be alluded to in the above passage, more especially as Solomon has said, " I made me gar- dens and orchards, and planted trees in them of all kmd of fruits" (Eccles. ii, 6). — Kitto,
Nuts, in ecclesiastical usage, sometimes designates a cup made out of a cocoanut; examples remain at Corpus Christi and Exeter colleges, Oxford. See Wal- cott, Sacred Archceology, p. 405.
Nuts or Bazugurs is the name of a class of Gypsies who dwell in Hindostan. A late intelligent writer has, with much plausibility, endeavored to trace from them the origin of the Gypsies of the West. They are both wandering tribes, and have each a language j understood only by themselves ; live principal!)' by for- I tune-telling (by palmistry and other means), and are [ alike addicted to thieving. The Gypsies are governed I by their king; the Nuts by their iiadar hutah. They appear to be equally indifferent on the subject of re- ligion, and in no respect particular in their food, or the manner in which it is obtained. According to a list furnished by captain Richardson, the languages adopt- ed by these people would appear to possess a very strong affinity to each other. "The Bazugurs are subdivided into seven castes, viz. the Cham, Athbla, Bynsa, Purbutte, Kalkur, Dorkinu, and Gungwar; but the difference seems only in name, for they live to- gether and intermarr}' as one people. They say they are descended from four brothers of the same family. They profess to be Mussulmans ; that is, they undergo circumcision ; and at their weddings and burials a gari and mollah attend to read the service ; thus far, and no further, are they Mussulmans. Of the Prophet they seem to have little knowledge; and though in the creed, which some of them can indistinctly recol- lect, they repeat his titles, yet, when questioned on the subject, they can give no further account of him than that he was a saint or jnr. They acknowledge a God, and in all their hopes and fears address him, except when such addresses might be supposed to interfere with Sansyn's department — a famous musician, who nour- ished, I believe, in the time of Akbar, and whom they consider as their tutelary deit_v; consequently they look up to him for success and safety in all their pro- fessional exploits. These consist of playing on various instruments, singing, dancing, tumbling, etc. The two latter accomplishments are peculiar to the women of this sect. The notions of religion and a future state among this vagrant race are principally derived from their songs, which are beautifully simple. Thej' are commonly the production of Kubier, a poet of great fame, and who, considering the nature of his poems, deserves to be better known. He was a weaver by
NUTS
24G
NUVOLONE