THE ECONOMIC PRODUCTS OF THE PALMYRA PALM. 285 



of the Indian Archipelago. Besides being exported in large quantities 

 from Ceylon forms a considerable portion of the food of the Tamil 

 people of Jaffna. Amongst a variety of purposes to which it is put, is 

 that of being mixed with the white of eggs and with lime from burnt 

 coral or shells. The result is a tenacious mortar, capable of receiving so 

 beautiful a polish that it can with difficulty be distinguished from the 

 finest white marble. 



Timber. — A full grown palmyra is from sixty to seventy feet high ; 

 its trunk at the bottom is about five and a half feet, at the top two and 

 a half feet in circumference. Its wood is generally known in Ceylon 

 and the maritime ports of India. Large quantities of it are exported 

 from Point Pedro and other ports of Jaffna to Madras and Colombo. 

 At certain seasons of the year, the felling, splitting, dressing, and ex- 

 porting of it give work to thousands of the Tamil people of the 

 northern peninsula of Ceylon. The trees have to arrive at a consider- 

 able age before they are of use for timber ; when a hundred years old 

 they are excellent. The wood of this palm near the circumference, when 

 of sufficient age, is remarkably hard, black, heavy, and durable, and uni- 

 versally used for rafters in pent-roofed houses, for which purpose Rox- 

 burgh states it is the best wood in India. The centre is soft and spongy, 

 containing little else than a coarse kind of farinaceous matter, inter- 

 mixed with some soft, white woody fibres and is cut out, as the black 

 exterior hard part only is employed. The wood is capable of taking a 

 fine polish. Its specific gravity is, according to Mr. Mendis, sixty- 

 five pounds per solid foot. For house building and various domestic 

 purposes, the timber is the most generally used of the palm tribe. 

 Pillars and posts for the verandahs of houses, well-sweeps, joists, and 

 reepers or laths, &c, are made from it. The trunk is split into four for 

 rafters, into eight for reepers, and these are dressed with an adze. From 

 the structure of the fibres, it splits easily in the direction of its length, 

 but supports a greater cross strain, than any other wood ; iron nails, 

 however, will rust rapidly in it. 



Palmyra trunks split into halves, with the heart scooped out, are 

 used as spouts for various purposes, but more especially for carrying 

 away the water from the eaves of houses. The dark outside wood of 

 very old trees is used to some extent in Europe for umbrella handles, 

 walking canes, paper rulers, fancy boxes, wafer stamps, and other 

 articles. 



Kelingoes. — The nuts are collected and buried in heaps in the ground. 

 When dug up after the space of three months, the young shoots called 

 kelingo supply the inhabitants with a nourishing aliment. In size, 

 colour, and shape they resemble a parsnip, and look like a cold potato. 

 In its fresh state it will keep good for a couple of months, and when 

 well dried in the sun, for a whole year. In this state they are called 

 odials. When reduced to flour or meal, the favourite cool or gruel is 

 made of it. 



