n 



drawing; and description of which I forwarded to the Secretary in 



the early part of the year 1824. 



Bv the inhabitants of the neighbouring hamlet of Kongaram, it 

 is called Ko-dady, a Teloogoo compound term for an useless Pal- 

 myrah It is supposed 10 be 100 years old. It differs in every 

 respect from the common Palmyrah. The stems are slender, and 

 the fruit is a hard solid substance, which after being steeped in wa- 

 ter for a few days, is well beaten, and used hy the natives as brush- 

 es to white wash their houses. ■ The leaves are very small and nar- 

 row, and the stalk is denticulated with many sharp curved thorns, 

 from which circumstance the natives say it resembles the back bone 

 of a shark, and on this account the people of the adjacent villages 

 carry it in their hand when ^.ravelling through the jungles as a 

 weapon of d> fence, and also during some of their festivals. The 

 Sunasies also, whenever they can procure them, carry such stalks 

 in their hand, and impose upon the ignorant natives by attributing 

 to them many surprising virtues, and pretending they cut them from 

 a curious tree which grows in a large Forest at an incalculable dis- 

 tance. 



The Inhabitants of Kongaram, and the neighbouring hamlets, 

 look upon this tree as the guardian of their jungle, and hold it in 

 some degree of veneration conceiving it has, as I am told its San- 

 scrit name (') Kulpavroochum, implies, the power of fulfiiing the 

 desires and wishes of mankind, at least such as from pureness of 

 heart and morals, have fjith in its supposed virtues. 



The Inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, go annually, at the 

 fall of the leaf, in procession to this tree, and the cerimony termi- 

 nates in the sacrifice of chickens, pigs, &c. 



This tree was much injured and lost many of its heads in the 

 ■violent storm of 1812. 



Chicacole: W. S. BOWLER, Major 



1st February 1826. Supt. of Roads, N. D. 



(No. 3.) 



The Palmyra Tree, from which this drawing was taken, is on the 

 bank of a tank at Neddoomole, amongst many others of the usual 

 species. It is of the natural size, and each head produces the fruit 

 in a perfect state. It is called -Cl^eJ^ieo 



W. S. BOWLER. 



(1) A Holy tree in the gardens of Indra. It is said in the Pooranas to 

 have been found in the Ocean when Crishna churned it, and that it was giv- 



*n tn IntivA tt^Uina him fhixf if urniiM rrrant- fha wiaiiac a^' oil hain .a 



