335 
Vegetables of Ceylon. 
tree into which their Daphne was metamorphosed on rejecting 
the embraces of the Sim. 
The morinda grows in all the watry parts of India. The 
wood is useless, but the root is employed to dye red. 
■The sindric-mal is a plant employed by the natives to supply 
the want of clocks ; as it has the quality of continuing open 
from four in the evening till four in the morning, and remain- 
ing shut during the other twelve hours. It is said to be cus- 
tomary for the Canclians to plant it in their gardens, and in 
cloudy weather when the height of the sun cannot be seen, as 
well as when the approach’ of morn cannot otherwise be dis- 
covered, it in some degree supplies the want of a better time- 
piece. 
The limes bear a small fruit resembling lemons. 
The manglias-tree produces a fruit considerably smaller than 
the mango, and remarkable for a hollow on one side, which 
has given rise to the tradition that this was the fatal apple 
tasted by Eve, and that the mark of the bite has continued 
on it as a testimony to all future ages. The odium thrown 
upon it by this tradition has occasioned a general belief that 
it is of a poisonous quality ; but it is so no more than any 
other fruit, and is only fatal when eaten to excess. 
The true ebony ^ so remarkable for its weight, and the 
polish which it takes, is found in great abundance in this 
island. 
Gamboge, well known to painters as affording a rich yellow, 
is here procured from a large tree which bears a roundish 
ribbed fruit, of a yellow colour. The gamboge is extracted^ 
from the wood of the tree, in the form of a juice which soon 
becomes solid. It is used in medicine as well as in painting, 
8 . 
