NOTES. 545t 



tindoria grows wild, and to employ a very considerable capital in the cultivation and preparation 

 of indigo : it is stated that he intends to take with him the improved machinery which has been 

 recently invented for the manufacture of that valuable dye. The state of machinery on Ceylon 

 is very defective in every branch. In order to enable both the theoretical and practical 

 mechanics of England to form some idea of the improvements which might be made in it, I 

 collected a very complete set of working models of every machine and instrument in use amongst 

 the natives of Ceylon, either in agriculture or manufactures, but this collection was unfortunately 

 lost in the Lady Jane Dundas East-Indiaman, in 1809. I have however recently called the 

 attention of Dr. Birkbeck, and other scientific members of the Mechanics Institution in London, 

 to the state of machinery on Ceylon, and to the degree of improvement which it is capable of 

 receiving from the superior knowledge of the mechanics of this country, and I trust that the 

 Royal Asiatic Society will soon receive the report which Dr. Birkbeck is expected to make on 

 this interesting subject. 



(F). The chaya root is the oUenlandia umhellata of Linneeus, and is used for dyeing red, 

 orange, and purple. Although this root grows on the opposite coasts and on the island of 

 Ramissarum, that which grows in the province of Jaffna and on the island of Manar is reckoned 

 the finest. It gives rise, in Jaffna and on the island of Manar, to a caste whose sole occupation 

 is to dig for chaya root. 



(G). The palmyra of the province o( SaSna is. \he borassus fabelliformis oi lAnnxMB. This 

 palm grows to great perfection in that province. The species of borassus in Jaffna whieh is 

 so valuable is that of which the wood is almost quite black ; it is used all over India for 

 rafters and for the roofs of houses, and is peculiarly valuable from its resisting all insects and 

 being extremely durable. The borassus, independent of its supplying this valuable wood for 

 exportation, is of the greatest importance to the inhabitants of Jaffna, from its fruit and roots 

 being used by them for food, and from many other parts of it being used by them in manufac- 

 tures and as articles of trade. The cocoa-nut tree, or cocos nucijera, is as useful to the natives 

 in the south as the borassus flabelliformis is to the natives of the north of Ceylon ; and it is worthy 

 of remark, that although there are forests of the borassus in the north of the island, there are 

 scarcely any of the cocos nucifera ; and that although there are forests of the cocos nucifera in 

 the south of the island, there is hardly a tree of the borassus flabelliformis. 



(H). Coodramalle was in ancient times a town of considerable importance. Tliere are now 

 extensive ruins on the spot where it formerly stood. In 1808, when I examined them, I found the 

 remains of many very large buildings. A history which I possess of a queen who reigned over 

 that town and the adjacent country about eighteen hundred or two thousand years ago, shews 

 that it was at that time a place of great importance. It was the spot where the fishery for pearls 

 used to be carried on before it was removed to Aripoe, which is a few miles to the northward of it. 



(I). The areca-nut is the areca catechu of LinniEus. This nut is used all over India for 

 chewing with the betel leaf or the betle pf(fer of Wildenow. There are three species of this 

 nut on Ceylon, which grow in great perfection in the interior of the country, and are much 

 esteemed throughout India. The areca-nut is to this day one of the most profitable and most 

 abundant articles of exportation from that island. 

 Vol. I. 4 C* 



