ClIAF. VIL] 



THE BAOBAB TRRK. 



559 



Tlie fort at Manaar, built by tlie Portuguese and 

 strengthened by the Dutch, is still in tolerable repair, and 

 tlie village presents an aspect of industry and comfort. 

 But the country beyond is sterile and repidsive, covered 

 by a stunted growth of umbrella trees and buffalo thorns. 

 The most singular objects in the landscape are a num- 

 ber of the monstrous baobab trees [Adansonia cligi- 

 ■ tnta), Avhose importation from the western coast of 

 Africa to India and Ceylon is a mystery as yet im- 

 solved. The popular conjecture is, that it was the 

 work of the Portuguese ; but the age of the trees, as 

 indicated by their prodigious dimensions, is altogether 

 inconsistent with this hypothesiSj^ and their introduc- 

 tion is probably referable to the same early mariners 

 who brought the coffee-tree to Ai'abia, and the cinna- 

 mon laurel to Malabar. 



BAOBAB TREES AT MANAAP. 



The huge and shapeless mass of wood in these sin- 

 gular trees resembles a bidb rather than a stem. One 

 of the largest, at Manaar, measured upwards of thirty 

 feet in circmnference, although it Avas a very httle more 

 in height. 



No scene in Ceylon presents so dreary an aspect as 

 the long sweep of desolate shore to which, from time 

 immemorial, adventurers have resorted from the ut- 



