No. 42. — 1891.] SINHALESE PLANT LORE. 



125 



informed of this, though much gratified, was yet not 

 altogether pleased with the bold assurance of the man, and 

 thinking to puzzle him, inquired whether the astrologer's 

 head, if laid on a stone, would there develop roots and grow 

 into a tree. The answer was in the affirmative ; and to the 

 great astonishment of the astrologer the king forthwith 

 ordered the experiment to be carried out, The severed head 

 was accordingly laid upon the stone, and after a time, lo ! 

 the noble cocoanut palm — the tree of a thousand uses — sprang 

 up. And to this day it is supposed the resemblance of the 

 cocoanut to the head of the astrologer is preserved, for, taking 

 the husked nut as representing the head, the fibre represents 

 the hair, with the top-knot (konde), while the eyes and 

 mouth are also supposed to be represented by the three 

 depressions. 



There are different accounts of the origin of this palm : 

 the Cochin people have one account and the South Sea 

 Islanders another. 



The Origin of the Siveet Potato (Sin., Batala). 



The story regarding the origin of this plant starts with a 

 widow and two daughters who lived together in comfortable 

 circumstances till the marriage of the two latter, one to a 

 man of wealth the other to a husband of moderate means. 

 Bad times coming upon the widow, she paid a visit to her 

 rich daughter, hoping to get help from her, but though she 

 arrived faint and hungry, the ungrateful child offered her no 

 refreshment ; and even when a request for food was made 

 the answer was that there was nothing in the house to eat. 

 At first the old woman was inclined to pity her daughter, 

 who, she thought, must have become poor like herself ; but 

 soon she became suspicious of her child's ingratitude, and 

 when the latter left the house for a while she looked about 

 and discovered that a pot full of rice had been hidden away. 

 Full of sorrow at the thought of her daughter's ingratitude 

 she wept bitterly, with the result that some of her tears fell 



