3900.] A. F. R. Hoernle — Epigraphical Note on Palm-leaf, etc. 125 
This description, with the exception of the remark about the edible 
fruit, only fits the Corypha palm. At the time of Alberuni (973- 
1043 A.D.) the Borassus palm, in all probability, did not exist in India. 
In any case, at his time its leaves were not used anywhere in India for 
writing books. He says the leaves measured one yard in length, and 
three fingers in breadth : that gives us a leaf measuring 36 x 2| inches, 
which, as I have shown, are nearly the maximum measurements of a 
Corypha leaf, but impossible for a Borassus leaf.^^ He also says that 
the leaves are called tarl. At the present day, the term tart is 
Used to denote palm -wine or “ toddy,” which, of course, is made from 
the juice of the Borassus palm. I am not aware that the term is used 
anywhere for the prepared leaves of either the Corypha or the Borassus. 
These are called Talpat or Talipat, and that term is applied to the 
Corypha palm in South India, and has been adopted into the Botanical 
terminology. In Alberuni’s use of the term tari for the leaves, there 
appears to be some misunderstanding. But a greater diflQculty is his 
remark about the edible fruits, as Alberuni is generally a careful 
observer and reporter. Personally he can have had no acquaintance 
with the tree, as neither the Corypha nor the Borassus grows in the 
localities where he lived : he can only have reported what he was told. 
But as the Borassus palm is out of the question, he must either have 
made a slip, or the text of his work is handed down incorrectly. As 
immediately before he had mentioned a point of resemblance to the 
date and cocoanut palms, he probably now wanted to point out a point 
of difference, that the Corypha palm bore no edible fruits ; he probably 
meant to say “ a tree, slender like the date and cocoanut palms, but 
bearing no edible fruits.” 
Alberuni proceeds to say : “ In Central and Northern India people 
use the bark of the tuz tree. It is called hJiurja. They take a piece 
one yard long and as broad as the outstretched fingers of the hand, 
or somewliat less (about 8 inches) and prepare it in various ways. They 
oil and polish it so as to make it hard and smooth, and then they write 
on it. Their letters, and whatever else they have to write, they write 
on the bark of the tuz tree.” There can be no doubt that Alberuni is 
describing the bark of Betula utilis. Where he lived, the tree was 
probably a well-known object to him. The measurements of the strips 
of bark given by him are borne out by the Kharbsthi birch-bark 
19 In the quoted passage it seems as if Alberuni were speaking of the size 
of the natural leaves of the palm. Obviously this is not correct ; for the size of 
the segment of the natural leaf of either palm, whether Corypha or Borassus, is 
much greater. Possibly the translation may be at fault. Anyhow, Alberuni is 
speaking of the size of the prepared leaf. 
J. 1. 17 
