r ,w ,
leaves, and a kind of spurious camphor from the roots. Cordiner describes the cinnamon
groves as delightful. “ Nothing can exceed the liixuiy of riding through them
in the cool hours of the morning, when the air is cool, and the sweetness ol' tho spring is
blended with the glow of summer. Every plant in the garden is at all times clothed with
fresh and lively g re en ; and, when tho cinnamon laurels put forth tlieir flame-colonrcd
leaves and delicate blossoms, the scenery is exquisitely beautiful. The fragrance, liowevcr,
is not so powerful as strangers arc apt to imagine. The cinnamon bark affords no scent
when the trees arc growing in tranquillity; and it is only in a few places that the air is perfumed
with the delicious odour of other slirubs, the greater proportion o fth e flowers and
blossoms of India being entirely destitute of that quality. Gentle undulations in the
ground, and clumps of majestic trees, add to the picturesque appearance of the scene ;
and a person cannot move twenty yards into a grove without meeting a hundred species
of beautiful plaiits and flowers springing up spontaneously. Several roads for can-iages
make winding circuits in the woods, and numerous intersecting footpaths penetrate tho
deepest thickets. In sauntering amidst these groves, a botanist or a simiilc lover of
nature may experience tlic most supreme delight whicli the vegetable creation is capable
ot affording; and tho zoologist will not be less gratified by the vai-icty, the number, and
the strangeness of many of the animal kingdom.” (Account o f Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 387.)
770. The talipot tt'ee is the Coi-ypha umbracidifera (jig. 216.). All tho books of importance
iu Pali and Cingalese, relative to the religion of Biiddhoo in Ceylon, arc
written on lamiinc of these leaves. This leaf is also used in the maritime provinces as a
mark of distinction ; each person hcing allowed to have a certain number of these leaves
folded up as fans, carried with liim by liis servants. They are also used in making
te n ts ; and, by the common people, to
shelter themselves from the r a in ; one
leaf affording sufficient slicltcr for seven
or eight persons.
771. Other palms common in Ceylon
arc, the cocoa nut (Cocos nucífera), the
Borássus liabclliformis, and the Caiybta
urcns. 'Ihc Cocos nucífera (//^. 217.)
is applied to a great variety of uses.
217
The coarse filament of the husk of the nut called coir is used tliroughout India for
making rope. Cocoa-nut oil and arrack arc well-known productions. The cocoa-
nut fdi-csts in Ceylon form a belt, of 130 miles in length, and a mile and a half in
breadth, along the south-west part of the coast ; and they are scarcely to be found,
naturally, any whcrb else in the island. This belt was estimated, when the Dutch
governed Ceylon, to contain from 10,000,000 to 11,000,000 cocoa-nut trees, and to
produce 6000 measures of an-ack, 3,000,000 pounds’ weight of coir, besides an immense
quantity of cocoa-nut oil. The Palmyra palm, or Bonissus flabclliformis (fig.
218.), gi-ows to great perfection in the province of Jaffna. Tlic wood of this species
of palm is almost black. It is used all over India for rafters and for the roofs of houses,
and is peculiarly valuiiblc from its resisting all insects and being extremely dnrable.
This tree prevails chiefly to the north of Ceylon, where it is as valuable to the inhabitants
as the cocoa-nut is in the south ; furnishing a consitlerable portion of thcir food,
aud of the articles which they export. 'Ih e Kitul tree, or Caryota ùrens, has given rise,
in Ceylon, to a distinct caste among the natives of the country. This caste is called the
caste o fth e Jaggcrai-os, from the sugar which is made of the produce of the Caryota lirciis
licing called Jaggery, and from the wliolc of the
above caste, both males and females, who arc very
numerous, being employed in the culture of tlic
tree itself, or in the manufacture of tho sugar whiclj
is procured from it. No sugar is made in Ceylon
from the vSugar-canc : all the sugar used by the
natives of that island is made cither from the Cocos
nucífera, or Borássus flabcllifói-mis, or Cnryòta
ùrens. Great quantities of sugar arc made from
these trees, both for home consumption and for exportation.
It is sold for one fourth or one sixth
of the price of the cheapest sugar made from the
sugar-cane. The Areca nut is the Areca Catechu
ofifinnauis. 'J'hisnutisuscd all over India for chewing
with the betel leaf, or the lietle pfcffer of Willdenow.
There arc three species ofthisnut in Ceylon,
which grow to gi-eat perfection in the interior of
the country, and are much esteemed throiighont
India. (Ira n s. Ji. Asial. Soc., vol.i. p..545.) “ Most
of the shrubs,” Dr. Gardner observes, “ wliich inhabit
the muddy sliorcs of the sea, and of the salt
lagoons, which are so numerous towards the nortli
of the island, are known by the name of Mangroves,
and belong to the order Rhizopliôrcoe, a
strictly intertropical tribe. My researches have already
yielded about half a dozen species. Among
the other plants found in the northern provinces,
are several kinds of very thorny acacias, the Salvadora Pérsica (the true mustard tree of
Scripture), and the upas.” (Bot. Mag., for 1848, p. 10.)
772. The Chaya rout o f Ceylon is the OldenhmdM umbellata of Linnæus, and is used
for dyeing red, orange, and purple. I t gives rise, in Jaffna and the island of Manar, to
a caste, whose sole occupation is to dig for chaya root.
773. A botanic garden was established in Ceylon, in 1811, through the influence of
Sir Alexander Johnstone, who was then chief justice of the island. TJic principal objects
of the plan were, to try what vegetable productions from other parts of the world could
be advantageously iiitrodnccd into Ceylon, and to improve the native plants by attentive
culture. It was also hoped tliat tlic demand for the vegetable productions of Ceylon
might be so much increased as to give the natives a decided taste for liorticnltnrc. 'Phis
plan was of more importance, from its being connected with another, whicli was also pru-
])Oscd by Sir Alexander, and adopted by the English govcrmncnt, for doing away with
those restrictions in Ceylon which prevented Europeans holding gi-ants of land in any
British settlements abroad, and for encouraging Europeans to become landholders, and
to employ thcir capital in the arts and maiiufacturcs of the country. Bishop Jlcbcr,
when lie visited this garden, found it beautifully situated, but not healthy. He was
pleased with the variety of plants, and delighted with the splendour of Gloriósa supèrba,
and the brilliancy of the oriental Amaryllide«. About 1843 Dr. Gardner, so well known
for his Travels in Brazd, was appointed to the curatorship of this garden, “ which
lie found had been so much neglected as to be almost i-aluclcss to the colony ; ” but by
Dr. Gardner’s exertions, it had become, in 1847, one of the most flourishing and useful
institutions in India, (¡dot. Mag., for 1847, p. 36.)
S u b s e c t . G. Gardening in the Birman Empire, Borneo, Java, Malacca, Siam,
Cochin-China, Singapore, and Japan.
774. O f the gardming o f the. Birman Empire YxìWqxs known in Europe. Its botany
has ])oen'explored by Dr. Wallich, who has discovered there several remarkable new
gciiei-a of ])lants. Among the latter may be mentioned one which has been called
Anilicrst/n, in compliment to Lady Amherst. The Amliérstía nóbilis is probably
tlic most beautil'ui aud noble iilant of the Indian Flora. There arc only two trees
of it known to exist, and these arc iu the gardens of a monastery on the banks of
the Salwcn. The hills near Ava are rugged, overrun ivitli the hardy briar or wild
Indian plum, and varieties of FJuphórbá?. There was also an Opiintia, exactly the same
as the American one, sent to India fr-om the Royal gardens at Kew. (CoFs Journal
o f a licsidence in the Birman Empire, p. 408.)
177). In Borneo, a country which has lately become much better known from the
establisliment of Mr. Brooke as its rajah, a number of new and beautiful plants liavc
been found. “ The climate of Borneo,” says Mr. Low in Ids History o f Saniwak, as