51 



The ripe fruits or drupes contain two or three nuts 

 Imbedded In a mass of soft yellow pulp, Interml^-^ed with dark, 

 straw colored fibre or core. Those nuts are oblong and a 

 good deal flattened, and covered with a mass of short fibre 

 which adheres to them. Beldes this fibre they are covered 

 with a thick, tough shell, very difficult of fracture. 



Uses 



The fronds are fan leaved, armed with spines radiating 

 from a common centre, and the stripes serrated at their edges. 

 The fan part Is about four feet in diameter. It answers as a 

 kind of umbrella when held by the stem over one's head. The 

 spines are cut off, and the middle is formed Into large fans, 

 called vlssarles and punkahs. These are lacquered for sale, 

 or used plain, as may suit the taste of the purchaser, but one 

 never sees a Buddhist priest In Ceylon without one of the 

 smaller part, or a fan of some kind or other ; of v/hlch some 

 are heartshaped, others circular, with handles of carved 

 Ivory , 



The leaves of this tree as well as those of the plaritaln 

 and the banana are sometimes used Instead of paper by the 

 people. Narrow strips of the leaf are braided Into sieves, 

 hats and caps, baskets, mats and bags ; the baskets are used 

 for drawing water as well as other purposes, and the bags not 

 only for carrying rice, salt, etc., In small quantities, but 

 for storing grain, being made very large and strong, while the 

 mats are necessary for the people, not only to sit, eat and 



