of the I/land of Ceylon. 1 5? 



extraordinary quality it poifefles of never decaying or rotting 

 id water. It appears to be deficient in elaiticity ; but that 

 may arife from its never having been fulficiently fteeped. 

 From fome experiments which have been made, its ilrength 

 appears to be in the proportion of five to four with European 

 cordaoe. 



The diftric't of Matura produces fix different kinds of (limb, 

 on which infects depofit the laca. The description of this 

 infect by Roxburgh, in the fecund volume of the Afiatic 

 Keiearches, is very correct. The Ceylon laca is the fame as 

 that which is found in Pegu ; but, though it is found in 

 great abundance on the fhrubs where it is depofitcd, the in- 

 habitants collect no more than is neccilary for their parti- 

 cular ufe. 



The plantations of cinnamon abound with a plant which 

 delicacy forbids us to defcribe. It is called baudura by thfc 

 Cingalefe, and has received the fcientific denomination of 

 7ieJ]enthes d'ljiillatoria by the boumiits. It is inaccurately 

 reprefented by Burman, and in Pennant's View of iiindu- 

 ftan. It has been equally confidcred and examined by the 

 antiquarian, the man of letters, and the botanilt. It ilou- 

 riihes beneath the fhade of the cinnamon-tree, whofe culture 

 it interrupts. 



The trees and plants in Ceylon are very numerous. In 

 the di drift of Columbo alone, there are not lefs than three 

 hundred fpecies. Many of them appear in the very inade- 

 quate catalogue of Palus Hcrmanus ; from whence they have 

 been transferred, without any diitinetive deicription, to the 

 Thefaurus Zeylanicus of Burman, and (o on, to the Flora 

 Zeylanica of Linnaeus, and other botanical works. Indeed, 

 of one hundred Cingalefe names given by Hcrmanus, and 

 adopted by Burman and Linmeu?, there are not ten in ufe 

 among the natives; and the relt are almoft unintelligibly 

 rendered in the German orthography. 



Of the timber ufed in domcitic articles, &c. thirty-nine 

 of the moll: remarkable fpecies have been collected. Among 

 them the kaloumidirie is difiinguilhed by very fine black and 

 vellowifii veins; the Europeans call it calcminder. The kad- 

 bumbirit: has the fame itreaks as the former, but not quite 

 fo large. Very beautiful articles of furniture are made of 

 them both. 



There are alfo the fatin wood, called bourouth ; the tch'a, or 

 teak, employed for malts, and every kind of fliipwright's and 

 carpenter's work; the jack, one of the bread-fruit trees, the 

 wood of which, when freth, is of a beautiful yellow, but 

 changes in the courfe of time to a rcddilh hue; aaid the 



L 4 ncdouiiy 



