No. 4. — 1848.] SINHALESE RURAL ECONOMY. 



45 



nat ; /es practise certain ceremonies by which they hope to 

 preserve them from depredation. Having procured a 

 number of young leaves of the cocoanut tree, they proceed 

 to charm them, by laying them on the ground and burning 

 dummala (rosin) round them. These leaves they then tie to 

 each of the trees, and they believe that any one who eats of 

 the fruit afterwards without claim to it will die. 



If the ceremony is effectual, these leaves must be a very 

 economical police, and might be introduced to protect more 

 valuable property. 



Arecanuts. 



The trade in arecanuts is so extensive that any notice 

 of the products of Sabaragamuwa would be incomplete without 

 such description as the subject will admit of. The beauti- 

 ful palm which produces the nuts grows to great perfection 

 in this District; it delights in shady and moist places. 

 Except around my own bungalow I never saw it cultivated, 

 but wherever there are a few trees and the locality is favour- 

 able, they increase largely by the droppings, and thus 

 have been formed the beautiful groups of this tree, which 

 break the sameness of the scenery. They are collected in 

 large quantities by Moormen, who send them in boatloads 

 to Colombo, whence they are shipped to the coast and to 

 the Maldives. 



Betel. 



These leaves, the produce of a kind of pepper vine, are 

 not grown in quantities as in the low country to supply the 

 markets, but in all the gardens ; the plant is trained upon 

 the jack trees, and supplies the wants of those belonging 

 to the family. In the neighbourhood of towns, betel is 

 trained upon sticks, and patches of ground to the extent of 

 an acre are cultivated entirely with it. The women collect 

 the leaves, packing them caref ally in baskets, and take them 

 to market. 



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