324 
Vegetables of Ceylon. 
servatives against famine, of which neither their own indolence, 
the terrors of their enemies, nor the tyranny of their governors, 
are able to deprive the Ceylonese. By regular cultivation, 
however, their utility might be greatly extended, and their 
quality improved. 
The cocoa-tree is of such singular utility not only to the Cey- 
lonese, but to all the natives of India, that I hope a full ac- 
count of it, and its uses, will not be thought superfluous by my 
readers, even although it is not by any means peculiar to the 
island I am describing. 
The cocoa-tree grows to a great height, is slender and straight, 
with the body completely bare, and only the top crowned with 
a bunch of long green leaves. These leaves may be compared 
ill appearance to a goose-quill: a thick ligament passes through 
the middle, and long green slips grow out from its sides, iu 
the manner of fern. Under the leaves the nuts appear growing 
in clusters : each tree bears from two to three dozen. The 
nut has a rind or outside coat of green colour, very thick, 
and composed of fibrous threads. These are so long as to be 
manufactured into ropes, called coya ropes, and cordage of 
various descriptions : even cables of the largest size are made 
of them, and are generally esteemed from being more buoyant 
in salt water than those made of hemp. These fibres, however, 
are of too harsh a nature to be manufactured without some 
previous preparation ; and therefore on being taken off, the 
rind is put into water to swell, and is afterwards beaten, before 
it is capable of being wrought into cordage. 
When this outward rind is removed, if the nut is recently 
plucked, the shell is found slightly covered with a white pulp 
which adheres to it. After being kept for some time, howeveig 
5 
