8> 



RE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 69 



from iiara. Some of the sacred records of the Singalese are 

 writte on pieces of the blade of these leaves with either a brass 

 or ire t style. It has been asserted by various authors that sucli 

 record . nave resisted for ages the ravages of time, by others it has 

 been denied. Under the native government of Ceylon each person 

 was allowed, according to the social station he occupied, to have a 

 certair number of the gigantic leaves of the Talipot, folded up in 

 the form of fans, borne before him. 



In ( eylon they beat the pith of the stem in mortars to flou]" 

 and bake cakes of it, which taste much like white bread ; it serves 

 them instead of corn before their harvest is ripe. The seeds are 

 nearly as hard as ivory and are extensively employed in the 

 manr lacture of beads, or are coloured and sold as coral, or even 

 made into small bowls. In Europe they are used in the manu- 

 factire of buttons. They are known in the trade as bazarbatu, 

 bajurbet or bayurbatum nuts, and a fairly considerable export in 

 these goes from Bombay. The trade is chiefly carried on by 

 Arabs. It is not improbable that after the removal of the pith, 

 the long fibro-vascular cords of the stem might be employed in the 

 same way as the fibre of Garyota urens. 



Robert Knox's quaint description^ of the Talipot is worth 



quoting, though it may contain some repetitions of what we have 



sa:d above : "It is as big and tall as a ship's mast, and very 



stiaight, bearing only leaves which are of great use and benefit 



to this people, one single leaf being so broad and large that it 



will cover some fifteen or twenty men, and keep them dry when it 



rains. The leaf being dried is very strong and limber, and most 



wonderfully made for men's convenience to carry along with 



them, for though this leaf be thus broad when it is open, yet it 



will fold close like a lady's fan, and then it is no bigger than a 



man's arm. It is wonderfully light ; they cut them into pieces and 



carry them in their hands. The whole leaf-spread is round almost 



like a circle, but being cut in pieces for use are near like unto a 



triangle ; they lay them upon their heads as they travel, with the 



peaked end foremost, which is convenient to make their waj' 



^ In " An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon, by Robert Knox, a 

 captive there near twenty years." London, 1681. 



