688 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



on amid feasting, tuba drinking, and laughter, with occasional 

 pauses during which Areca nuts, fresh Betel leaves, and lime are 

 passed around on a tray, and the host dispenses cigars, made b_y the 

 ladies of his family, of tobacco leaves in the form of a cylindrical 

 bundle kept together by a wrapping of pineapple fibre or thread." 



In the Philippines toddy or "tuba" is made of the sap of the 

 Nipa, obtained as in the Coconut from the flowering spadix. 

 " This spirit," says Padre Blanco in his "Flora de Filipinas," 

 " preserves, I am told, the sight, if the eyes are washed with it in 

 the moi'nings ; it also imparts an agreeable odour to tobacco and 

 snuff. The inside of the fruit is edible, like that of the Coconut." 

 He mentions the pounded leaves of Nipa as a remedy for the bites 

 of centipedes and a cure for ulcers. When the leaves are burnt 

 they yield a supply of salt. Linschoten, the Dutch traveller, who 

 visited India about 300 j^ears ago, saw this palm and mentions 

 that it yields an excellent wine. 



From the leaves hats and cigar cases are made. The old fruits 

 are large, the interior being hard like ivory, but transparent. 

 Kurz thinks the seeds might be used for vegetable ivory. 



According to Watt the leaf- stalks are used to help in floating 

 sundri logs in the Sunderbunds, also as fishing floats. Gamble states 

 that the trade in golpatta leaves in the Sunderbunds amounts ^^early 

 to about 135,000 tons, valued at nearly Es. 60,000. 



Cultivation in Europe. — An ornamental stove palm. It is 

 somewhat difficult to grow. Its pot should be partially or nearly 

 submerged in a tank in which tropical aquatics are cultivated. 



Illustration. — Major Gage was kind enough to have a photo- 

 graph taken of the beautiful group of Nipa palms seen on 



PI. xcv. 



{To be continued.) 



