284 BOTANICAL INFOKHATION. 



Sfietlumba {Celtis ?) Tiie large-leaved tree is the Kakiima 

 {Aleuritis triloba). A Citron is behind the store-house, and 

 in the right hand corner is the Acacia hamata, or Fish-hook 

 thorn, a sensitive creeper of great beauty, which festoons 

 trees all over the interior. 



Banyan Tree {Ficus Benghalensis) — The sketch of this 

 tree, Ma Nt/r/a of the Cingalese, was taken in the Cinnamon 

 Gardens from near the lake in which Sir Robert Arbuthnot's 

 residence, Kew, is situated, and overhangs its waters. A Moos- 

 man of the lowest caste is represented in the foreground under 

 a Paudamis, or Screw Pine, so common in Arabia as well as on 

 the coast of Ceylon. It is very frequently mentioned by 

 oriental poets under the name of Cetaca. Thus in transla- 

 tions of the songs of Jaya-dena, — " a breeze like the breath 

 of love, from the fragrant flowers of Cetaca, kindles every 

 heart, vvhilst it perfumes the woods with the dust it shakes 

 from the Mellica [Nyctanthes) with half-opened buds." 

 Again, "the Cesara (^Crocus) gleams like the sceptre of the 

 world's monarcli, Jove ; and the painted thyrse of the Cetaca 

 resembles the darts by which lovers are wounded." The 

 Cingalese do not follow the example of the Hindu women, 

 who roll up its flowers in their long black hair, after bath- 

 ing in the Ganges. — At a distance is a Cashew nut-tree, 

 {/inacardium occidentale), not unlike an apple tree in its 

 growth, here the commonest of trees, aad encouraged as a 

 shade to the Cinnamon, and for the sake of its nuts which 

 are collected in April, by women furnished with long poles. 

 — Among the Cocoa-trees in tl!e distance, is the Kitul, or 

 Jagghery Palms, Caryota wens, easily distinguished at a 

 nearer approach. 



Banyans are the favourite resort of the rose-winged parro- 

 quets {PalcBOuris torquatus), Jamboo pigeons, and others of 

 the feathered race ; and in thick jungles they are the abode of 

 numerous parasitical plants, the most common of which is 

 the Pathos scandens, and the most beautiful the Cycas circi- 

 nalis (Madu Gaha). The green sward which encircles the 

 Lain (turquoise set in emerald), is enlivened by the rose- 



