110 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [PART I. 



and the natives assert that the bursting of the spadix 

 is accompanied by a loud explosion. The leaves alone 

 are converted by the Singhalese to purposes of utility. Of 

 them they form coverings for their houses, and portable 

 tents of a rude but effective description ; and on occasions 

 of ceremony, each chief and headman walking abroad 

 is attended by a follower, who holds above his head an 

 elaborately-ornamented fan, formed from a single leaf of 

 the talpat. 



But the most interesting use to which they are applied 

 is as substitutes for paper, both for books and for ordi- 

 nary purposes. In the preparation of olas, which is the 

 term applied to them when so employed, the leaves are 

 taken whilst still tender, and, after separating the central 

 ribs, they are cut into strips and boiled in spring water. 

 They are dried, first in the shade, and afterwards in the 

 sun, then made into rolls, and kept in store, or sent to the 

 market for sale. In order to render them fit for writing 

 on they are subjected to a second process, called ma- 

 dema ; a smooth plank of areca-palm is tied horizontally 

 between two trees, each ola is then damped, and a weight 

 being attached to one end of it, it is drawn backwards and 

 forwards across the edge of the wood till the surface 

 becomes polished ; and during the process, as the mois- 

 ture dries up, it is necessary to renew it till the effect 

 is complete. The smoothing of a single ola will occupy 

 from fifteen to twenty minutes. 1 



The finest specimens in Ceylon are to "be obtained at 

 the Panselas, or Buddhist monasteries ; they are known 

 as puskola, and are prepared by the Samanera priests 

 (novices) and the students, under the superintendence of 

 the priests. The raw leaves, when dried without, any 

 preparation, are called Tcarakola, and, like the leaves of 

 the palmyra, are used only for ordinary purposes by the 

 Singhalese ; but in the Tamil districts, where palmyras 



See Vol. II. p. 528. 



