6 



JOURNAL R. A. S. CEYLON. 



[EXTRA NO. 



The Trees of the Maldives. 



Most of the trees on these islands are coconuts : they fur- 

 nish the food of the inhabitants along with the fish, of which 

 mention has been made. The nature of the coconut is marvel- 

 lous. One of these palms produces each year twelve crops, one 

 a month. Some are small, others large : many are dry [yellow], 

 the rest are green and remain always so. From the fruit is 

 obtained milk, oil, and honey, as we have said in the first part 

 of this book. With the honey is made pastry, which they eat 

 with the dried coconut. All the food made from the coconut, 

 and the fish eaten at the same time effect an extraordinary and 

 unequalled vigor in manhood. * * * * 



Among the remarkable trees of these islands are the tchou- 

 rnoun {Eugenia Janibu) the lemon, the lime and the colocasia. 

 From the root of the last named, the natives prepare a flour with 

 which they make a kind of vermicelli, and this they cook in coco 

 milk ; it is one of the most agreeable dishes in the world. I had 

 a great taste for it and ate it often. * 



Of the Inhabitants of these Islands and some of 

 their Customs : Description of their Dwellings. 



The inhabitants of the Maidive islands are honest and pious 

 people, sincere in good faith and of a strong will : they eat only 

 what is lawful, and their prayers are granted. When one of 

 them meets another, he says " God is my lord : Muhammad is 

 my prophet : I am a poor ignorant being." In body they are 

 weak and have no aptitude for combat or for war, and their arms 



* "The island [Male] produces a bulb in shape and appearance 



much resembling an ordinary potatoe, but having a pungent flavor. This 

 the natives grate down, and steep in water for some time to deprive it of 

 the unpleasant taste, and dry it afterwards, when it looks very much like 

 flour, and is very palatable" (Christopher and Young in Trans. Bombay, Geo- 

 graphical Society, 1836-38, p. 80). Without doubt the yam called by Maldivi- 

 ans htttala (Pyrard, itelpoul, " an edible root which grows in abundance, round 

 and large as the two lists") and probably identical with the hiritala (Dioscorea 

 €>ppositifoliaj of the Sinhalese — B. 



