THE AKECA, PALMYRA, AND TALIPOT PALMS— RATANS. 541 



any inequality oo its thin polished stem, which is dark-green towards the top, and sus- 

 tains a crown of feathery foliage, in the midst of which are clustered the astringent 

 nuts, for whose sake it is carefully tended. In the gardens of Ceylon the areca palm 

 is invariably planted near the wells and water-courses, and the betel plant, which imme- 

 morial custom has associated to its use^ is frequently seen twining round its trunk. 



The Palmyra palm, the sacred Talgaha of the Brahminical Tamils of Ceylon, ex- 

 tends from the confines of Arabia to the Moluccas, and is found in every region of 

 Hindostan from the Indus to Siam, the cocoa and the date tree being probably the only 

 palms that enjoy a still wider geographical range. In northern Ceylon, and particularlj? 

 in the peninsula of Jaflfna, it forms extensive forests ; and such is its importance in 

 the Southern Dekkan and along the Coromandel coast, that its fruits afford a compen- 

 sating resource to seven millions of Hindoos on every occasion of famine or failure of 

 the rice crop. Unlike the cocoa-nut palm, which gracefully bends under its ponderous 

 crown, the palmyra rises vertically to its full hight of seventy or eighty feet, and pre- 

 sents a truly majestic sight when laden with its huge clusters of fruits, each the size 

 of an ostrich's egg, and of a rich brown tint, fading into bright golden at its base. 

 The Palmyra rivals the cocoa-nut and the gomuti by its many uses, and Hindoo poets 

 celebrate the numerous blessings it confers upon mankind. 



The Talipot of the Singalese rises to the hight of one hundred feet, and expands 

 into a crown of enormous fan-like leaves, each of which when laid upon the ground 

 will form a semicircle of sixteen feet in diameter, and cover an area of nearly two 

 hundred superficial feet. These gigantic foliaceous expansions are employed by the 

 Singalese for many purposes. They form excellent fans, umbrellas, or portable tents, 

 one leaf being sufficient to shelter seven or eight persons ; but their most interesting 

 use is for the manufacture of a kind of paper, so durable as to resist for many ages the 

 ravages of time. The leaves are taken whilst still tender, cut into strips, boiled in 

 spring water, dried, and finally smoothed and polished, so as to enable them to be 

 written on with a style, the furrow made by the pressure of the sharp point being ren- 

 dered visible by the application of charcoal ground with a fragrant oil. The leaves of 

 the palmyra similarly prepared are used for ordinary purposes ; but the most valuable 

 books and documents are written to-day, as they have been for ages past, on olas or 

 strips of the talipot. 



The Ratans, a most singular genus of creeping palms, luxuriate in the forests of 

 tropical Asia. Sometimes their slender stems, armed with dreadful spines at every 

 joint, climb to the summit of the highest tree; sometimes they run along the ground; 

 and while it is impossible to find out their roots among the intricate tangles of the 

 matted underwood, their palm-like topes expand in the sunshine, the emblems of 

 successful parasitism. They frequently render the forest so impervious, that the dis- 

 tinguished naturalist Junghuhn, while exploring the woods of Java, was obliged to be 

 accompanied by a vanguard of eight men, one half of whom were busy cutting the 

 ratans with their hatchets, while the others removed the stems. These rope-like plants 

 frequently grow to the incredible length of four or even six hundred feet, often con- 

 sisting of a couple of hundred joints two or three feet long, and bearing at every knot 

 a feathery leaf, armed with thorns on its lower surface. Tennent mentions having 

 seen a specimen two hundred and fifty feet long and an inch in diameter, without a 



single irregularity, and no appearance of foliage other than the bunch of feathery leaves 

 35 



