MRS COL. WALKER’S TOUR IN CEYLON. 239 
to the exclusion of all other vegetation. Ido not think we. 
found any new plants in this neighbourhood. . Among the 
trees Vateria Indica is common, from the seeds of which the: 
natives make a kind of bread; they prepare it for use, by 
taking the inside of the fruit out, this they wrap in a cloth, 
covering the whole with a quantity of the leaves of the tree; 
it is then placed for some hours in a stream of running water, 
and is not eatable until it has undergone this process. - The. 
resin which exudes from the tree is used by carriage painters, 
I suppose, as a varnish. ‘The Mura Wakka Modlear who 
accompanied us, is my authority for the above mentioned facts. 
“26th February.—This day we entered terra incognita, no: 
European having travelled farther on our present route. We 
started a quarter past 5, a.M., the first half hour through paddy’ 
fields, which is the most disagreeable of all travelling, the paths 
being too narrow to afford room for two men abreast, as my: 
Coolies carry my palankeen, or even safe footing for a horse; 
add to this, the inequality of the surface, from the succession 
of small dykes, or embankments, formed to retain the water, 
Which are not apparent when the crop is standing, and it may — 
be easily imagined how very unpleasant it is to travel over. 
We then crossed a ridge of hills, more paddy-fields, and more- 
hills, our whole route being a succession of cultivated valleys: 
and jungle-covered hills, the valleys becoming-narrower and - 
the hills more rugged and mountainous as we advanced to- 
wards the interior of the island. = = == ul am ical al? 
* At a place called Kattewelle, we enteréd the ColonaCorl, — 
where the authority of our friend, the Modlear, ceased, and. r4 
Were soon after met by the Standard-bearers, Tomtomers, &c., 
of the Coral, or headman of the Corle, or district, a remnant 
of Kandyan customs. now rarely practised. One —P 
 trated himself on the ground before me, touching it with his 
forehead, a degree of servility one does not wish to see from. = 
one human being to another; but, in general, the Kandy a 
- have gone to the opposite extreme; and aru me barely cixihi 
. even to the governor. | ‘The Coral. having had. intimation pull 
our approach, had had the path cleared of jungle and made — 
