CIIAP. III.] TIMBER TREES. 115 



by means of which the 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 which is suspended from each end of 

 the pingo. By a swaying motion communicated to them 

 as he starts, his own movements are facilitated, whereas 

 one unaccustomed to the work, by allowing the oscillation 

 to become irregular, finds it almost impossible to proceed 

 with a load-ef any considerable weight. 1 



Timber trees, either for export or domestic use, are 

 not found in any abundance except in the low country ; 

 and here the facility 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- 

 malie. But, unfortunately, the indifference of the local 

 officers entrusted with the issue of licences to fell, and 

 the imperfect control exercised over the adventurers who 

 embark in these speculations, have led to a destruction of 

 trees quite disproportionate to the timber obtained, and 

 utterly incompatible with the conservation of the valuable 

 kinds. The East India Company have had occasion to 

 deplore the loss of their 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, at various parts of the island, 

 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-moodliar to the Eoyal Engi- 

 neers, in which he has enumerated upwards of ninety 

 species, which, in various parts of the island, are employed 

 either as timber or cabinet woods. 2 Of these, the jak, 



1 The natives of Tahiti use a yoke 

 of the same form as the Singhalese 

 pingo, but made from the wood of the 

 Hibiscus tiliaceus. DARAVIN, Nat. 

 Voy. ch. xviii. p. 407. For a further 



account of the pingo see Vol. I. Part 

 iv. ch. viii. p. 497. 



2 Mendis' List will be found ap- 

 pended to the Ceylon Calendar for 

 1854. 



I 2 



