THE PALM. 



259 



iDg the productive districts. The trunk of the 

 daum is composed of longitudinal, parallel fibres, 

 similar to that of the date, but much stronger, 

 and closer. It is cut into planks, which are used 

 for doors in Upper Egypt. The fibres are black, 

 and the intermediate pith is yellow. The leaves 

 are used for making carpets, bags, and baskets 

 of various kinds. The pulp of this fruit is plea- 

 sant to the taste, and would be much used for 

 food if it were not for the numerous fibres with 

 which it is mixed; still the inhabitants of Said 

 or Upper Egypt do frequently eat it. The fmit 

 is sold in large quantities, and very cheap, at Cairo, 

 where it is rather considered as a useful medicine 

 than an article of food. It tastes like ginger- 

 bread, and is much relished by the children. An 

 infusion something like the drink made of steeped 

 liquorice root, or the pods of the carob tree, is 

 prepared from the fruit, which, before maturity, 

 contains a clear and tasteless fluid : when ripe, 

 the kernel becomes very hard, and fine beads for 

 rosaries are made of it. 



The TaKput, or Palmyra Palm, (coryplia um- 

 hracuUfera.) This species is a native of Ceylon, 

 where it occurs among the mountains in the in- 

 terior. It also grows in the Burman empire, 

 and other parts of the East Indies. The leaves 

 are eigliteen feet or more in diameter. They are 

 of a coriaceous texture when dried, capable of 

 being folded, and again opened repeatedly like a 

 fan. Hence the usual term of the Fan Palm. 

 They readily receive an impression from any 

 hard point. Advantage is taken of this proj^rty 

 to use stripes of them, prepared in milk, instead 

 of paper, to wi'ite upon which is one of the 

 most important uses of this palm. Their ribs 

 are of the texture of cane, which adds gxeatly 

 to their strength. When cut at the extremities 

 of the petioles they are said to be used to pro- 

 tect the heads of travellers and fighting men 

 who have to force their way through the jungle. 

 For this purpose only a portion of the leaf is 

 used. The thicker part, which was attached to 

 the petiole, is placed forward, and the sides hang- 

 ing over the ears, a kind of wedge or inverted 

 Iceel is formed, which forces the branches aside 

 as the wearer pushes forward. All the books of 

 importance in Pali, or Cingalese, in Ceylon, re- 

 lative to the religion of Buddhoo, are written 

 upon laminEB of these leaves. The Pali and 

 Cingalese character is engraved upon stripes of 

 them, with either a brass or an iron style. There 

 are some of these books in Sir A. Johnston's 

 collection, which are supposed to be between five 

 and six hundred years old, and which are still 

 veryperfeot. Two finespecimens of books written 

 upon the leaves, now in the library of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society, are invaluable. The one is a 

 complete copy of the Pali book, called the Pan- 

 syapanas Jatakaya, written upon eleven hundred 

 and seventy-two lamince of the finest description. 



This book contains the whole moral and religious 

 code of the Buddhists, and is so scarce tliat it 

 was for some time believed there was no complete 

 copy extant. Sir A. Johnston, when president 

 of his Majesty's councU in Ceylon, being, from 

 the various benefits which he had confen'ed upon 

 the priests of Buddhoo, much in their confi- 

 dence, was allowed by them to have copies taken 

 of aU the different parts wliich were dispersed 

 among the most celebrated temples in the island, 

 and of them formed a complete book. The 

 other is a very fine specimen of a Burmese volume 

 on the Buddhoo religion, written upon laminae 

 of the taliput leaf, lacquered over, and beautifully 

 gilt, which was sent to the president by the king 

 of Ava, with some other books as the finest spe- 

 cimen he could give him of the manner in whicli 

 the books in a royal library at Ava were writ- 

 ten. The taliput leaf is used in the mari- 

 time provinces of Ceylon as a mark of distinc- 

 tion, each person being allowed to have a number 

 of these leaves folded up as a fan, earned with 

 him by Ms servant. It is also used in the Can- 

 dian country, in the shape of a round flat um- 

 brella upon a stick. It is farther used to make 

 tents, and by the common people to shelter them 

 from the rain, one leaf affording sufficient shelter 

 for seven or eight persons. When about eighty 

 years old, which is when it has attained its full 

 growth, the flower spike bursts from its envelope 

 with a loud report; it is then as white as ivory. 

 In the course of fifteen or twenty months, it 

 showers down its abundance of nuts; this effort 

 to provide a numerous succession, proves fatal to 

 the parent. Thus it presents the singular phe- 

 nomena of a long-lived plant only blossoming 

 once during its existence, when it dies, and in 

 dying, like the fabled Phoenix, sheds the seeds 

 of a future generation around it. The flower is 

 occasionally thirty feet long. Mr Bennet, author 

 of an Account of the Fishes of Ceylon, was pre- 

 sent during several of these rare explosions. In 

 times of great scarcity, the natives of India cut 

 down this palni and extract the pith for food. 

 It very much resembles sago in its qualities. 



The blossoms have such a strong heavy smell, 

 that the natives cut them down and destroy them 

 when in the vicinity of their cottages. The 

 fruit is round, and very hard, about the size of 

 a cherry, and so abundant, that one tree will 

 produce sufficient to plant a whole country, 

 They are not edible. 



The Toryplia calicra, or Taliera palm, anothex 

 similar species, is also a noble plant, the wood 

 of which is of universal use throughout the 

 northern provinces of India for roofing houses 

 and other domestic purposes. 



The Dwarf Palm, (chamcerops Immilis,) has 

 already been alluded to as the only species which 

 wUl endure the cold of the temperate zone. It 

 is of smaU stature, and grows, though not very 



