J:00 JOURNAL R. A. S. (CEYLON). [Vol III. 



a large vessel containing water. A good deal of astringent 

 matter will be found in the starch, to which it gives a 

 brown colour. This may be removed by mixing the starch 

 with the white of eggs, which precipitates the tannin, and 

 by straining again the fine pure starch may be obtained. 

 It will be found more glutinous than common sago. 



In the month of January, during the rainy weather, 

 the Kitul abounds with starch, which, however, is not 

 found in every tree. The natives discover its presence in 

 a tree by the whiteness of its leaves and petiole, also by 

 boring a hole in the stem and extracting the pith. The 

 Sinhalese make use of the flour for food after boiling 

 it in steam, which changes it into a gum-like mass." 



Kitul Jelly. — Dissolve a tea spoonful of the starch with 

 a little cold water, and pour over it four ounces, or two 

 wineglassfuls of boiling water, and keep stirring till it 

 jellies : then flavour it with milk and sugar. 



Madupiti, from the Cycas Gimncdis.—lihe Sinhalese 

 in the Uva District prepare from this an inferior kind of 

 starch. The fresh kernels are cut in slices and well dried 

 in the sun. before they are fit for use : otherwise they 

 have an intoxicating effect and produce vomiting and diarrhoea. 

 The poorer classes generally use the flour, which is prepared 

 by pounding the kernels. It is also boiled in steam and 

 eaten by patients suffering from bowel complaint and 

 haemorrhoids, for which it is highly esteemed by the natives 

 as the best medicine. I have given the flour made into 

 porridge in cases of chronic dysentery, and from the few 

 trials that I have made, 1 think favourably of its effect, 

 in restraining inordinate purging such as is often beyond 

 the control of the usual astringent medicines. The tree 

 grows plentifully in Vialuwa. 



Barley was also cultivated in parts of Udukinda in the 

 vicinity of Wilson's Bungalow, by Brahmins, who went 

 * Vide Observations cm t\ e Vegetable Froducts of Ceylon, p. 3d. 



