172 PERADENIYA, HOTANIfAL GARDEN. 



beyond the lawn near the margin of the lake. A 

 peculiar contrast in that crowd a number of policemen 

 produced in strictly metropolitan garb. 



The day was clear and not too hot, which decided 

 me to walk to the Botanical Garden at Peradeniya, now 

 under the direction of Dr. Henry Trimen, the successor 

 of the indefatigable Dr. Thwaites, the author of " Flora 

 Zeylanica," who had for 30 years been its head. The 

 distance is four miles, just a pleasant walk, giving one 

 a good opportunity of seeing the country as well as 

 the people. I was considerably stared at, as Europeans 

 in tropical climates invariably ride or diive, but 1 did 

 not mind that. The I'oad led through a succession of 

 neat villages and forests, and on reaching those 

 beautiful ^rardens the first sig-ht that streets the visitor 

 is a magnificent Taliput palm {Corypha umhrceulifera), 

 the king of palms, with large umbrella-shaped leaves ; 

 around it were other kinds, as the Palmyra (Borassus 

 jiabelliformis), valuable ibr its timber, the Areca 

 (Areca catechu), for its l:)etel nut as a masticatory. 

 The Travellei-'s palm [Ravenala madagascariensis), the 

 leaves of which are arranged like an open fan ; it is 

 noted for containing, even during the driest season, a 

 large quantity of pure water, supplying to the traveller 

 the place of a well. A knife is inserted into the thick 

 end of the leaf, near the trunk, and a stream of the clear 



