Nov. 1, 1901. j Supplement to the Tropical ''Agriculturist" 
369 
on questions of domestic economy, and especially 
on the subject of diet. We now give the paper 
referred to : — 
• The subject of "Diet" for persons in health, 
for the invalid, and for the poorer ckifses, 
in particular, is one -wliich vrill not only be 
interesting to the readers of the " Miscellany," 
but be productive of much good to the indi- 
vidual and to the community, if the principles 
tvhich regulate the supply of nutriment to the 
body are clearly understood and carried out 
in practice, daily. 
There is no doubt that there is much ig- 
norance and neglect in the daily feleution of 
articles of food, and it is with the object of 
pointing out what articles have more nutritive 
value than others that I send you a few notes 
on the diet of the poorer classes for daily 
use in health. 
The staple article of food in this country is 
rice, which is plentiful and cheap, within 
reach of the poorest labourer who earns from 
twenty-five to thirty-seven cents per diem, and 
even of the street beggar who accumulates a 
fc; large quantity from the small handfuls doled 
o -out to him from house to house. If the readers 
Ik of this paper, particularly the Chief Mudaliyars, 
rf" Eatemahatmeyas, Presidents of Village Tribunals, 
Headmen, Officials, and Clerks in the various 
Kachcheries throughout the island could induce 
; the ignorant villagers to cultivate other articles 
of food, and net to depend upon rice cultivation 
alone, much destitution and misery could be 
'• averted in the remote villages of the interior. 
The value of meat is well known, it is true, 
but its cost is prohibitive, and when indulged 
in, in the interior it is generally by dishonest 
means. The iiesh of wild boar, elk, deer and 
smaller game is appreciated, and even the un- 
■ civilized denizens of our forests, the veddahs, 
preserve venison in the dry state and eat it 
^ with honey ; these are nutritious and are " ilesh 
■■' and fat formers." In Batticaloa, Badulla, Ham- 
bantota, dry venison called "din ding" is 
' eaten by the better classes in the same way 
as dry Maldive fish is prepared — with onions, 
' lime juice and chillies. Pork is freely consumed, 
: : when obtainable, in the domestic or wild state. 
Mutton is only consumed in the Northern and 
''J Eastern Provinces by the Tamils, and by the 
better classes of Hindus and Moormen in the 
larger towns. Beef is forbidden flesh to the 
!■ ■ Sivites, who pride themselves on being strict 
vegetarians. It is well known that man cannot 
• live on meat alone, but these vegetarians try to 
convince us that "they live on vegetables 
alone," which is also an impossibility, as pure 
and strict vegetarianism cannot keep a person 
•'' in health and enable him to "live and move" 
v.. about. These so-called vegetarians consume a 
large quantity of milk, curds, butter-milk, and 
clarified butter called " ghee,' and many of 
them eat eggs in curry. The poorer classes 
eat fish in small quantities in the fresh and 
in the dry or salted state, and vegetables in 
large quantities in their cuiries ; and in a dry 
' .compound of chopped up vegetables and scraped 
coconut, flavoured with dry Maldive fish an d 
condiments, called mellun. 
Europeans, who do not know the composition 
of the native diets often express their surprise 
to find strong able-bodied men among those 
who live on such simple fare as rice and curry, 
without meat as an ingredient. They do not 
know that the national dish is a rich compound 
of " flesh-forming " and fat-accumulating" sub- 
stances. 
The milky juice of the scraped coconut, 
which is thoroughly squeezed out after two or 
three washings, forms an oily ingredient of 
all curries, one coconut being sufficient for 4 
or 5 persons for two meals. In India, where 
coconuts are very scarce^ ghee is used instead, 
and then the curries are drier in consequence. 
Most vegetables are consumed accordingly as 
they are plentiful and in seascn, without reference 
to their nutritive qualities. Green vegetables 
not of the bean tribe are poor in nutritive 
properties, but all benns and peas are rich in 
flesh-forming properties and are well calculated 
to supply the place of animal flesh. During 
the Franco-German war, the German soldiers 
were well fed on a portable dry compound of 
compressed vegetables of the bean tribe, prin- 
cipally the flour of peas, mixed with a small 
proportion of bacon or lard, all compressed 
into small cakes, which when boiled with 
water formed a most nutritious pea-soup. 
The stalwart Afghans whom we see in our 
midst eat pancakes made of wheat flour with 
a curry composed of " Dholl " or dry peas to 
which ghee is added, and this is a close imitation 
of the substance alluded to above as used in 
the German army. 
In this country, all vegetables of the bean 
tribe grow freely, and it is with the object 
cf suggesting a larger cultivation of them in 
the interior, so as to induce the villagers to 
keep them in stock, in their fields and gardens, 
when the paddy crop fails, that I indite these 
notes. When rice is abundant they can form 
the principal ingredient of their curries, and 
thus a flesh-forming substance can be substituted 
for meat which is not obtainable. 
The dry pea used in India is called ''Dholl" 
or " Dhall," and it can be readily cultivated 
even in dry sandy localities, for I notice its 
ready growth anc fruitfulness in the sandy soil 
of the Cinnamon Gardens. The other grains of 
the pea tribe are ulundu ; native peas (pasee 
pyaru); native bean (thala pyaru), etc., etc. ; 
kurakkan (a millet) can also be used. 
In conclusion, I desire to impress one and 
all who read these notes to spread the know- 
ledge far and wide that all leguminous vege- 
tables, such as beans and peas are the most 
nutritious, and can supply the place of meat. 
Green herbs and vegetables contain principally 
water, and very little actual nutriment. Farina- 
ceous substances such as rice, kurakkan, sweet 
potatoes, yams, green plantains, breadfruit, jak, 
with all the various pulses, lentils, beans, peas, 
etc. should be regularly cultivated as articles 
of food; the other esculent vegetables as pump- 
