THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 94-5 



Odials that the flour once so prized by the Dutch, according to 

 Bennet, is made; though in these days [1850] we never hear of 

 this substance being sent to the Cape of Good Hope or Holland. 

 A substance called Putoo is made of the Kelingoo flour. To the 

 meal is added a little water, into this are put prawns or small fish, 

 scrapings of Cocoanut kernel, unripe jack fruit, etc. This mixture 

 is put into an ola-basket which is placed on the top of a pot of 

 boiling water, covered over with a chatty, and cooked by the steam. 

 This is reckoned a great delicacy." (Ferguson). 



In India the vegetable is eaten chiefly by Kolis and low-class 

 people. 



In a cheap year the gross value of a crop per acre at ordinary 

 market rates would be about Rs. 1,800, rising in a dearer season to 

 Rs. 3,000. 



7. Medicine. — The juice of this plant is used as a stimulant and 

 anti-phlegmatic. " Europeans, especially delicate females, in India, 

 who are apt to suffer much from constipation, find a cup-full of this 

 itoddy, drank every morning at five o'clock, one of the simplest and 

 best remedies they can employ. The Vytians prescribe it in 

 vconsumptive cases." (Ainslie, Materia Medica.^ 



The root is considered cooling and restorative, as also the gelatin- 

 KiKtis contents of the unripe seeds. The ash of the spathe is given 

 for enlarged spleen. 



A useful stimulant application, called toddy-poultice, is prepared 

 by adding fresh drawn toddy to rice-flour till it has the consistence 

 of a soft poultice ; and this being subjected to a gentle fire, ferm- 

 (entation takes place. This, spread on a cloth and applied to the 

 parts, acts as a valuable application to gangrenous ulcerations, 

 ■earbuncks, and indolent ulcers. The light-brown cotton-like sub- 

 .stance from the outside of the base of the leaves is employed 

 as a styptic for arresting hasmorrhage from superficial wounds. 

 {Pharmacop. of India). 



'S. Wood. — The trees have to arrive at a considerable age before 

 they are of use for timber ; when a hundred years old, they are 

 •excellent. The heart of the tree is soft, but the outer wood is 

 hard, heavy, and durable, consisting of numerous thick black 

 vascular bundles.. The weight of the solid foot is 65 lb., the value 

 29 



