NO. 41. — 1890.] RBBELION DE CEYLAN. 



477 



they cook -their meats, preparing them with great taste and 

 culinary knowledge in various appetizing ways of gastronomy 

 in which they carry it out- 

 There is no doubt that Ceylan is the best piece of territory 

 there is in the Indies. Wherever we look, whether it is on 

 the sea, or the air, or the land, the mountains and forests are 

 full of the best cinnamon in the world, and contain a 

 hundred thousand other herbs and wild fruits so varied in 

 fragrance, taste, and flavour, that they not only serve to glut 

 every sense, but afford the ordinary food of the inhabitants 

 and trade and traffic throughout the East. 



The arecanut (la areca), the most valuable of all, is 

 exported from this Island. It grows in bunches as thick as 

 grapes, and as big as cypress apples. The trunk of the tree is 

 like the palm in straightness, but thinner and drier. They use 

 the nut and mix it with the betel leaf (el betere), a herb whose 

 leaves climb like ivy, and with chunam (el chunambo), 

 ■a kind of lime : this composition they make into a paste, 

 which they usually have in their mouths, chewing it 

 like goats ; and it is perhaps owing to this custom that 

 the Portuguese gave to the Indians the name of cobras. 

 It preserves the teeth, strengthens the stomach to a certain 

 extent, dries up all humidities, and completely stops 

 salivation : it is regarded as a thing of great courtesy and 

 nicety amongst the Zingalas. But what increases its value 

 amongst these barbarians, and gives it such a trade, is that it 

 nourishes the sensual organs : it is excessively hot, so much 

 so that it excites the fire of their brutal passions. There are 

 other trees like the quince (los membrillos), from whose 

 flower is distilled a simple water, which excels in odour all 

 that is prepared in Europe. The taste of some fruits is so 

 excellent and delicious that the Zingalas go up the mountains 

 on purpose to eat them, with nothing more than what nature 

 ffave them. 



On the other side of the Island the rice they call bate is so 

 abundant in the fields that it gave its name to the kingdom 



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