526 THE NOKTIIERX FORESTS. [Part IX. 



the sun, and when dressed in sUces, form a palatable 

 kind of vegetable. Under the name of kelingoos, these 

 roots are exported in large quantities from Point 

 Pedro to Colombo and other parts of Ceylon, and 

 esteemed a dehcacy in aU the southern bazaars. The 

 kehngoo is reducible to a flour, which in the time of 

 the Dutch was so much prized for its dehcacy that 

 it was sent home as an enviable present to frieiids in 

 HoUand. 



The shells of the seeds, after the kehngoos have been 

 taken from them, are collected and charred, in which 

 state they are used by the blacksmiths and workers in 

 metal, who believe them to surpass all other fuel in the 

 power of engendering a glowing heat. 



The wood of the palmyra is so hard and diu-able, 

 that a proverb of the Tamils says, " it hves for a lac 

 of years after planting, and lasts for a lac of years 

 when felled." It consists, hke the other palms, of 

 straight horny fibres, which confer the faculty of sepa- 

 ration into lengths, and as these are said to resist the 

 attacks of the white ants, they are used universaUy in 

 Ceylon and India, for roofing and similar purposes. The 

 export from Jaffna alone of palmyra rafters and reapers 

 (laths), consumes annually between 70,000 and 80,000 

 palms, each of the value of fr'om three to six shillings. 

 The trees require to have reached a considerable age 

 before they are fit to be cut for timber ; at one hundred 

 years they are held to be good, but the older they are 

 the harder and blacker the wood. Eafters and pieces 

 requiring strength and solidity are taken from the 

 lower part of the trunk, laths and reapers from the 

 top. The outer circumference of the tree always yields 

 the firmest and most compact timber ^, and tlie Singha- 



^ The centre of the palmyra and 

 its top {ire soft and sponpy, contain- 

 ing a kind of coarse farina inter- 

 mixed with woody fibre. For this 

 reason the natives of Jaffiia Liy these 



portions in places where game arc 

 plentifid, and the wild hogs and 

 hares, attracted to feed on them, 

 are thus secured to the sportsman. 

 (See FekgusoN; p. 10.) 



