Chap. VI.] 



THE PALMYEA PALM. 



525 



instituted been sufficient to remove tlie apprehensions 

 that the cost of culture and treatment, added to local 

 disadvantages, will always render it difficult for the 

 produce of the palmyra to compete with that of the sugar- 

 cane in European markets, or even in Ceylon. 



If the fruit be permitted to form, instead of being 

 crushed in embryo by the toddy-drawer, it ripens about 

 July or August, and presents itself in luxuriant clusters 

 of from ten to twenty on each flower stem, of which the 

 tree bears seven or eight. Such is their size and weight, 

 that a single cluster is a sufficient load for a coohe. As 

 the period of their ripening approaches, the elephants 

 from the main land cross over into the peninsula at points 

 of the isthmus, to feed upon the fallen fruit, or pidl down 

 the younger plants for the sake of the tender leaves of the 

 cro'wn. 



Almost invariably, the tougli and pohshed case of the 

 fruit contains within it three intensely hard seeds, em- 

 bedded in a farinaceous orange pulp, mixed with fibre. 

 The taste of this pulp in its natural state is sweet, but 

 too oily and rank to be palatable to a Em'opean. The 

 natives eat it, occasionally raw, more frequently roasted ; 

 but the prevaihng practice is to extract it by pressure, 

 and convert it into " poonatoo \" by diying it in squares 

 in the sun ; after which it is preserved in the smoke of 

 their houses, and used in various forms, either for cakes, 

 soup, or curry. 



Another form in which food is extracted from the 

 pahnyi^a, is by planting the seeds or kernels of the fi^uit, 

 the germs of whicli in their first stage of growth are 

 of the shape and dimensions of a parsnip, but of a 

 more firm and waxy consistency. These are dried in 



' Humboldt found the Indiaus 

 on the Upper Orinoco makiufy ,a 

 preparation from the Piritu Pal in, 

 tlic fruit of which seems to resemble 

 that of the Pahnji-a, being " a fari- 



naceous substance, as yellow as tlie 

 yolk of an e<^g, slirrhtly saccharine, 

 and exti'cmely nutritious." — Nurra- 

 ticc, ch. xxii. 



