PALMIRA TREE, AND ITS USES. 97 
make use of as food in times of scarcity. The leaflets are 
wrought into mats for sleeping on. The common footstalks 
of the leaves are split into three or four, and made into baskets 
of various kinds. 
The leaves of many of these Palms are employed for thatch- 
ing, for making chattahs or umbrellas, punkahs, and hats. 
Thus, those of Licuala peltata, the Chattah-pat of Assam, are 
in universal demand in that valley. Scarcely a single plough- 
man; cow-keeper or cooly, but has his Jhapee or Chattah made 
of Chattah-pat.1 (Jenkins.) But the leaves of this Palm are 
coarser than those of another, the Toko-pat of the Assamese, 
which has been named, in honour of the zealous Commissioner 
of Assam, Livistona Jenkinsiana, by the late Mr. Griffith. 
Col. Jenkins says of this species: “This Palm is an indispen- 
sable accompaniment of every native gentleman’s house, but 
in some parts it is rare, and the trees are then of great value. 
The leaves are in universal use throughout Assam, for covering 
the tops of doolees (palkees), and the roofs of khel boats; also, 
for making the peculiar hats, or rather umbrella-hats (jhapees) 
of the Assamese. For all these purposes the leaves are admi- 
rably adapted, from their lightness, toughness and durability.” 
The Patmtra tree of Europeans (Borassus flabelliformis), and 
the Tar of the natives of India, is to be seen in almost all 
parts of India, and occasionally as far as 30° N. lat. It is 
-stated by Dr. Roxburgh to be, next to Caryota urens, the 
largest Palm on the Madras coast, and that it seems to thrive 
equally well in all soils and situations. The seeds, when 
young, are eaten by the natives, being jelly-like and palatable. 
The tree, during the first part of the season, yields a pretty 
large quantity of toddy (palm wine). This is either drank 
fresh drawn from the tree, or boiled down into a coarse kind 
of rob called jaggery, or it is fermented for distillation. The 
wood, near the circumference of old trees, is very hard, black, 
heavy, and durable. By the natives the leaves are universally 
used for writing upon with an iron style. They are also 
employed for thatching houses, for making small baskets, mats, 
' The stems of Licuala acutifida afford the well-known walking sticks known by 
the name of “ Penang Lawyers.” (Griffith.) : 
