Trees Found in the Fields 135 



good cough medicine and is also used for poultices. 

 The fruits, when ripe, are of great importance, being 

 used for buckets, bowls, and all kinds of domestic 

 utensils. In some places a musical instrument is 

 made by cutting a number of slits in the rind and 

 playing on them with the end of a stick. 



Camphor Tree. Grown for its important gum 

 and also for shade. The camphor is distilled from 

 chips taken from the roots and lower part of the 

 trunk of large trees. 



Cashew. A tree related to the poison ivy and 

 grown for its fruits, which contain most of the poi- 

 son and must be roasted before being eaten. The 

 nuts are sometimes scraped and rubbed on the face 

 to whiten the skin. The face swells, blackens, and 

 peels, but in about two weeks a new complexion is 

 produced. A gum from the trunk makes a good 

 mucilage when dissolved in water and has the advan- 

 tage of keeping away insects. The wood is valuable. 



China Tree. Cultivated for shade and orna- 

 ment. The seeds are used for beads. 



Cinnamon. The dried inner bark taken from 

 shoots of the cinnamon tree, which grows wild in the 

 forests of Ceylon and is extensively cultivated. The 

 Arabs first collected and sold it, but kept its origin 

 a secret for hundreds of vears. 



