CHAP. III.] 



FRUIT-TREES. 



119 



belongs to the Pea tribe, and is allied to the Sisso of 

 India. Its wood, which is lighter than the " black-wood " 

 of Bombay, is used for similar purposes. 



The Tamarind tree 1 , and especially its fine roots, pro- 

 duce a variegated cabinet wood of much beauty, but of 

 such extreme hardness as scarcely to be workable by any 

 ordinary tools. 2 



As to fruit trees, it is only on the coast, or near the 

 large villages and towns, that they are found in any 

 perfection. In the deepest jungle the sight of a single 

 coco-nut towering above the other foliage is in Ceylon 

 a never-failing landmark to intimate to a traveller his 

 approach to a village. The natives have a superstition 

 that the coco-nut will not grow out of sound of the 

 human voice, and would die if the village where it had 

 previously thriven became deserted ; the solution of the 

 mystery being in all probability the superior care and 

 manuring which it receives in inhabited localities. 3 In 

 the generality of the forest hamlets there are always to 

 be found a few venerable Tamarind trees of patriarchal 

 proportions, the ubiquitous Jak, with its huge fruits, 

 weighing from 5 to 50 Ibs. (the largest eatable fruit in 

 the world), each springing from the rugged surface of the 

 bark, and suspended by a powerful stalk, which attaches 

 it to the trunk of the tree. Lime-trees, Oranges, and 

 Shaddoks are carefully cultivated in gardens, and occa- 

 sionally the Eose-apple and the Cashu-nut, the Pap- 

 paya, and invariably as plentiful a supply of Plantains 



1 Tamarindus Indica. 



8 The natives of Western India 

 have a belief that the shade of the 

 tamarind tree is unhealthy, if not 

 poisonous. But in Ceylon it is an 

 object of the 'people, especially in the 

 north of the island, to build their 

 houses under it, from the conviction 

 that of all trees its shade is the coolest. 

 In this feeling, too, the Europeans are 

 so far disposed to concur that it has 

 been suggested whether there may 



not be something peculiar in the re- 

 spiration of its leaves. The Sin- 

 ghalese have an idea that the twigs of 

 the ranna-wara (Cassia auricidata) 

 diffuse an agreeable coolness, and they 

 pull them for the sake of enjoying it 

 by holding them in their hands or 

 applied to the head. In the south of 

 Ceylon it is called the Matura tea- 

 tree, its leaves being infused as a sub- 

 stitute for tea. 

 8 See Vol. II. p. 125. 



i 4 



