196 THE STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS OF CEYLON. 



but it is in Brazil that this substance occupies the most important position. 

 It is largely cultivated, and much of it exported to England in the shape of 

 tapioca. To form the thin cakes on which so many of the people subsist, 

 the roots are ground against the face of a rapidly revolving wheel, the pulp 

 being received into a trough, put into bags, subjected to pressure, baked 

 crisp on hot hearth-stones or iron plates and reserved for use. This bread 

 the Brazilian considers palatable and nutritious, but the more rigorous and 

 discriminating stomach of the Englishman submits to it in but a grumbling 

 way. It is well to multiply forms of human food, but after all, no kind of 

 bread can equal the leavened wheaten loaf of Old England, looking lovingly 

 at its twin brethren of the round and rump steak family. 



I have no hesitation in recommending the fecula of the Cassava as an 

 article of diet for young children, and in every respect surpassing arrow- 

 root. The density of Moussache is as 14:16. The starch prepared like 

 arrow-root with a little milk, imparts a grateful flavour. 



6. Arenga saccharifera (Saguerus Rumphii, Roxb.), which yields sago, 

 sugar, palm wine, and black fibre for cables and cordage. It may be intro- 

 duced into low situations near the coast. 



7. The Phoenix farinifera, a dwarf species, which is found on sandy 

 hills, at a short distance from the sea near Coringa, contains farina in its 

 stem, which is used as food by the natives in times of famine. It will 

 grow in the dry and sandy plains of the country. 



8. Ceylon moss (Gracilaria lichenoides), fronds filiform ; filaments much 

 branched and tufted, and of a light purple colour, so well known for the 

 amylaceous property it possesses. It grows abundantly in the large lake 

 or back water, which extends between Putlam and Calpentyn, and is chiefly 

 found about the small islets near Palleywasel torre and Candacoda. It is 

 collected by the natives 'principally during the S.W. monsoon, when it 

 becomes separated by the agitation of the water. The moss is spread on 

 mats, and dried in the sun for two or three days. It is then washed three or 

 sometimes seven times in fresh water, and again dried in the sun, which 

 renders it white ; afterwards it is collected in heaps for exportation. Pro- 

 fessor O'Shaughnessy has given the best analysis of the moss, which in 

 100 grains weight yielded the following : — 



Vegetable jelly 54.50 



True starch .... 15. 



Wax a trace 



Ligneous fibre 18. 



Gum . . . .4. 



Sulph. and mur. of soda .... 6.50 



Sulp. and phosp. of lime . . .1. 



Iron a trace ... 



99. 



Assume the traces of wax, iron, and loss at 1. 



100. 



