THE PALMYRA. I39 



martin and the graceful genet, which frequent the trees, and 

 especially the crown of the cocoa-nuts, in quest of birds. On 

 ascertaining that the first flow of the sap has taken place, the 

 toddy-drawer again trims the wounded spathe, and inserts its 

 extremity in an earthen chatty to collect the juice. Morning 

 [uid evening these vessels are emptied, and for four or five 

 months the palmyra will continue to pour forth its sap at the 

 rate of three quarts a day. But once in every three years 

 the operation is omitted, and the fruit is allowed to form, 

 without wliich the natives assert that the tree would pine and 

 die.* 



Most of the " palmyra toddy " drawn in Ceylon is made into 

 sugar or jaggery, which sells in the bazaars for about three 

 farthings a pound. Of the produce of Jaffna alone about 500 

 tons are annually exported to the opposite coast. of India, where 

 it undergoes the process of refining. The granulation is said 

 to surpass that of the sugar-cane, and large quantities of 

 palmyra sugar are even sent to Europe from Cuddalore and 

 iNIadras. The produce of jaggery might be greatly increased, 

 but, by a strange anomaly in these free-trade times, a high duty 

 is levied on its export by the Colonial Government.f The 

 hard and durable wood of the palmyra, which, consisting like 

 the other palms of straight horny fibres, can easily be split 

 into lengths, is said to resist the attacks of the termites, 

 and is used universally in Ceylon and India for roofing 

 and similar purposes. The exports of Jaffna alone consume 

 annually between 7,000 and 8,000 palms, each worth from 

 three to six shillings. The tough and polished ahell of the 

 fruit contains three intensely hard seeds imbedded in a farina- 

 ceous orange pulp, which has a sweet and oily taste, and is 

 eaten in various ways. 



The leaves, finally, are employed for roofs, fences, mats, 

 baskets, fans, and paper. According to a common fallacy, 

 " the two nuts of India, the cocoa-nut and the palmyra, cherish 

 such secret envy and hatred towards each other, that they will 

 not grow in the same field, nor in one and the same region; 

 which, however, must be attributed to the great wisdom of the 

 Creator, who is unwilling that these trees, so productive and so 



* Tennent's " Ceylon," vol. ii. p. 523. 



t Sclimarda, "Eeise urn die Erde, vou 1853 bis 1857," vol, i. p. 283. 



