126 



SOUTHEEX AXD CEXTKAL TEOVIXCES. [Paet YII. 



There is hardly one of these multifarious uses that may 

 not be seen in active illustration dm^ing the diive 

 between Galle and Colombo. Houses ai^e timbered 

 Avith its wood, and roofed with its plaited fronds, which, 

 under the name of cajans^ are hkewise employed for con- 

 structing partitions and fences. The fi'uit, m aU its 

 varieties of form and colour \ is ripened aroimd the 

 native dweUings, and the women may be seen at their 

 doors rasping its wliite flesh to powder, in order to ex- 

 tract fi'om it the milky emulsion which constitutes the 

 essential excellence of a Singhalese cmiy.^ In pits by 



^ Thougli xmfamiliar to the eye of 

 a sti-anger, the Siughalese distinguish 

 five varieties of the nut. One, bright 

 orange in the colour of the outer 

 husk, known as the "King coco- 

 nut," is generally planted near the 

 temples : it contains a fluid so deli- 

 cate that a draught of it is offered bv 

 the priests to "s-isitors of distinctioia 

 as an honour. The other four vaiy 

 from light yellow to dark gi-een, anci 

 are also distinguished by shape and 

 size. The wonderful double coco- 

 nut fi-om the Seychelles, Lodoicea 

 SeycheUarum, has been introduced 

 into Ceylon, but I am not aware that 

 it has yet fi-uited there. In size it 

 exceeds the ordinary coco-nut many 

 fold, with the added peculiarity 

 of presenting a double form. One 

 specimen which I obtained in Ceylon 

 exhibits a triple fomiation. In 

 the subjoined sketch an orange is 

 introduced to exhibit the exti-aordi- 

 naiy size of these singidar coco-nuts, 

 even after being deprived of the out- 

 ward husk. 



Di-ifted by the waves from some 

 imknown shore, this mysterious fruit 



was at one time believed to gi'ow be- 

 neath the sea, and was thence called 

 the Coco de Mer. Medicinal Airtues 

 were then ascribed to it, and so much 

 as 4000 florins were offered by the 

 Emperor Eodolf II. for a single 

 specimen (Malthe Betx, vol. iv. p. 

 420). It is to this singidar plant 

 that Camoens alludes in the Liisiad : — 



" Nas illias de Maldiva nascp a planta 

 No profundo das aguas, soberana, 

 Ciijo pomo contra o veneno urgente 

 lie tido por antidoto excellente." 



Canto X. St. 136. 



^ In a note to Vol. I. Pt. rv. ch. ii. 

 p. 436, I have shown the eiTor of the 

 belief prevalent amongst Em-opeans, 

 that the use of ciuit was introduced 

 by the Portuguese, and that the word 

 itself is derived fi-om that language. 

 In addition to the evidence there 

 stated, it may be mentioned that Ibx 

 Battjta, two hundred years before 

 the Portuguese had appeared in the 

 Indian Seas, describes the natives of 

 Ceylon eating ciutv, which he calls 

 in Arabic couchmi, oft' the leaves of 

 the plantains, precisely as they do at 

 the present day : " lis apportaient 

 aussi des feuilles de baii- 

 anier sur lesquelles ils 

 pla^aient le riz quiforme 

 leiu- nourritiu'e. lis re- 

 pandaient sur ce riz du 

 coiichdn, qui sert d'assai- 

 sonuement ♦ * * ♦ qxu 

 est compost? de poulets, 

 de viande, de poissou, et 

 de legumes." 



coco DE KER 



