944 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



" And these baskets or sacks are placed on a tliree-legged stool, 

 which they fasten by a rope to a beam, that for some days they 

 may be impregnated with smoke ; but this should not be done too 

 mucli, lest the Punata should become bitter ; they also place the 

 ropes in such a manner, that mice cannot enter ; and then this 

 w^ork is finished, and the Punata or Poenata so often mentioned is 

 prepared — and^this they reserve for use during winter. 



" The people of Maccassar prepare the fruit in a much more 

 convenient manner, nor do they spend so much labour. When the 

 juice has been only expressed, they pour it into large pans and mix 

 it with the farina of rice, and thence prepare many kinds of food." 

 The seed within the albumen is also eaten, being sold in Bengal 

 under the name ' talsans.' 



6. Young seedlings (dantalas, keUngoos) as vegetable. — After the 

 Punatoo, described above, is taken from the ripe friaits, the nuts ai'e 

 kei)t for future iise. At a convenient season they are sown in 6 to 8 

 layers, under loose, sandy soil, thrown up in parts of the gardens or 

 fields close to the dwellings of the natives. Planted in beds in this 

 manner, there is, no doubt, a greater heat created in consequence 

 of the fibre surrounding the nuts, &c., which induces them to grow 

 more rapidly than otherwise and better for purposes of food. 

 According to the ' Agricultural Ledger ' about 50 fruits are planted 

 to the square yard, and these may produce 100 and more dantalas. 

 These are taken up when they are two or three months old, the 

 nuts cut from the points of the leaves, and then the seedlings are 

 exported or eaten in various ways. " To keep these kelingoos for 

 future use, they are deprived of the beautiful parchment-like 

 sheath in which thej^ are completely enveloped, and then dried in 

 the sun. Those dried in this manner, before they are boiled, are 

 emphatically called Odials, and those boiled after, are called Poolooc 

 Odials. It is the Odials that are reduced to flour or meal of which 

 the favourite Cool (of the Singhalese), or gruel is made. The 

 kelingoos roasted, boiled, or cut into slips and fried like slices of 

 Bread Fruit, are eaten by the natives and will be found in the 

 bazaars of Colombo and elsewhere all the year round. In their 

 dried state they seem to be chiefly farina with a few fibres running- 

 through them, and their taste is very astringent. It is of the 



