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JOURNAL, R.A.S, (CEYLON). fVOL. XXI, 



trees, and the male tree yields toddy for a much shorter 

 period, or for Government to levy a tax of 50 cents on every 

 tree tapped. The effect of the toddy season on the criminal 

 statistics of the island is not, however, disastrous. 



Flora. — Delft is famed for its medicinal herbs, which are 

 much valued by the Jaffna people, especially a creeper called 

 in Tamil chintil, Tinospora cordi folia, Sin. rasakinda, a powder 

 obtained, from the stem of which is said to purify the blood 

 and to conduce to longevity. Large quantities are exported 

 to Jaffna, Galle, &c. 



A plant said to be peculiar to the island is kavoti (this is 

 Psoralea coryli folia, Sin. bodi). I ascertained subsequently 

 that it is not peculiar to Delft, but is commoner or more 

 appreciated there than anywhere else. It has been recorded 

 also from Anuradhapura, Nalanda, and Mannar, and has 

 been found at Pandateruppu in the Jaffna peninsula. 



Quantities are bought by the people of Mandatwu from 

 the Delft people for manuring their fields, and licenses to 

 collect the plant are issued annually to the Delft people at 

 Rs. 4 each license. It would not pay to ship it to Jaffna for 

 manuring purposes. The people of Delft are beginning to 

 use it for manuring tobacco. In Delft nothing but tobacco 

 is manured. 



The prickly pear has become a nuisance in Delft ; it has 

 spread ail over the place and covered many a good dry-grain 

 land. It is said to have been unknown in the island previous 

 to the cyclone of October, 1884, but this statement I can 

 hardly credit ; however, many people say that it was only 

 after this cyclone that it began to spread in Delft. It is chiefly 

 in the northern coast. The people have learnt to eat the fruit. 



Next to the palmyra, the commonest trees are various 

 kinds of banian, the suriya, and the margosa. There are 

 some palai trees in Delft East, and two or three baobab trees 

 (Adansonia digitata), probably introduced from Mannar. 

 There are none in the Jaffna peninsula, nor in any Jaffna 

 island but Delft. 



Fauna. — The commonest birds all the year round are 

 mynas and parrots, also larks ; but many birds appear with 

 the setting in of the north-east monsoon, including plenty of 



