THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. M'^ 



information on the subject, but, unfortunately, this publication 

 was not at our disposal, 



Plin}^^ says expressly that the most ancient waj^ of writing was 

 upon the leaf of the Palm tree, an assertion Avith all the weight of 

 evidence in its favour. 



The following quotations give some interesting details : — Mar- 

 shall, in his account of the Cocoanut Tree, writes : — 



"The leaflets are sometimes used to write upon, and the instru- 

 ment employed to make the impression is an iron stylus, the pen 

 of the scriptures. The stylus was used by the Romans to write 

 on waxen tablets, leather, etc. The leaves of the Palmyra (Boras- 

 sus flahelliformis') , or Talipot (Goryijha timhraculifera) , are, how- 

 ever, much more frec^uentlj^ employed for this purpose. Contracts 

 and other legal instruments are often engraven upon tablets of 

 copper, similar in shape to a slip of the talipot leaf, which have 

 occasional^ a border of silver or gold. . . . Palm-leaves,, 

 when they are prepared to receive the impression of the stylus,. 

 are called ollahs. The natives wa-ite letters to one another 

 upon ollahs, which are neatly rolled up, and sometimes sealed with 

 a little gum-lac ; in this manner they pass through the post-office. 

 During the operation of writing, the leaf is supported bj' the left 

 hand, and the letters scratched upon the surface with the stylus. 

 Instead of moving the hand with which they write towards the- 

 right, they move the leaf in a contrary direction, by means of the 

 thumb of the left hand. To render the characters more legible^ 

 the engraved lines are frequently filled by besmearing the leaf w^ith 

 fresh cow-dung, which is tinged black, by rubbing the lines over 

 with cocoanut oil, or a mixture of oil and charcoal-powder. The 

 natives can write standing, as well as walking, and the}?^ rarely use 

 tables. 



"Palm leaves, and perhaps the leaves of trees that do not belong 

 to this natural class, were much used by the ancients as writing- 

 materials, hence the word leaf (of a book) is synonymous with 

 that of a tree." 



The statements respecting the age of Palmja^a manuscript books 



^ Lib. XIII, Cap. 2. 



