CiiAi". III.] TIMBER TEEES. 115 



by means of wliicli tlie Singhalese coolie, like the cor- 

 responding class among the ancient Egyptians and the 

 Greeks, carries his burdens, dividing them into portions of 

 equal weight, one of wliicli is suspended from each end 

 of the pingo. By a swaying motion communicated to 

 them as he starts, his own movement is facihtated, whereas 

 one unaccustomed to the work, by allowing the oscillation 

 to become irregular, finds it almost impossible to proceed 

 with a load of any considerable weight.^ 



Timber trees, either for export or domestic use, are 

 not found in any abundance except in the low country, 

 and here the facihty of floating them to the sea, down 

 the streams which intersect the eastern coast of the island, 

 has given rise to an active trade at Batticaloa and Trinco- 

 mahe. But, unfortunately, the indifference of the local 

 officers entrusted with the issue of hcences to fell, and 

 the imperfect control exercised over the adventurers who 

 embark in these speculations, has led to a destruction of 

 trees quite disproportionate to the timber obtained, and 

 utterly incompatible with the conservation of the valuable 

 Idnds. The East India Company have had occasion to 

 deplore the loss of thek teak forests by similar neglect and 

 mismanagement ; and it is to be hoped that, ere too late, 

 the attention of the Ceylon Government may be so di- 

 rected to this important subject as to lead to the appoint- 

 ment of competent foresters, under whose authority and 

 superintendence the felling of timber may be carried on. 



An interesting memoir on the timber trees of Ceylon 

 has been prepared by a native officer at Colombo, Adrian 

 Mendis, of Morottu, carpenter-moodhar to the Eoyal Engi- 

 neers, in which he has enumerated upwards of ninety 

 species, which, in various parts of the island, are emploj^ed 

 either as timber or cabinet woods.^ Of these, the jak, 



' The natives of Tahiti use a yoke 

 of the same form as the Singhalese 

 j)i/>f/o, but made from the wood of the 

 Hibiscus tilinceus. — Darwi:x, Kat. 

 Vol/, ch. xviii. p. 407. For a fm-tJier 



account of the piugo see Voh I. Part 

 IV. ch. viii. p. 497. 



^ Mendis' List will be found a\)- 

 pendod to the C<'i/lu)i Caloidur fur 

 1854. 



I 2 



