OF THE MALDIVB ISLANDS. 
135 
Group VI.— Foods and Edible Products. 
Taking first the cereals and other staples, we find that the 
bulk- of the rice used is imported from Bengal. Bimbi, Eleu- 
sine Coracana, is a good deal cultivated, and occasionally some 
of the millets, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, and a 
little maize. The cocoanut, as in other tropical countries, 
provides many of the necessaries of life. Of root crops, half 
a dozen kinds of true yams (Dioscorea) are grown, as well 
as the sweet potato, the cassava or tapioca, and Colocasia 
and Alocasia. The root of Tacca furnishes food in times of 
scarcity. Of pulses, there are Dolichos Lablab, Pachyrhizus 
angulatus, Phaseolus lunatus, and Canavalia ensiformis, all 
common beans of Ceylon and Indian cultivation. Mangrove 
rootlets are often eaten. 
Of spices, arecanut is both cultivated and imported, betel, 
pepper, and chillies are grown, and a little black pepper. 
Murraya and Brassica are recent introductions. 
Sugar cane is cultivated to a slight extent, and some of the 
Amaranti are perhaps used as potherbs.- Tobacco is occa- 
sionally cultivated. 
Of fruits, eaten raw or in curries, there is a fairly long list. 
The most important are in order : the papaw, bread-fruit, 
pumpkin, plantain, pomegranate, lime. Orange, lemon, shad- 
dock, watermelon, soursop, guava, cucumber, piueapple, &c., 
are also frequent, and custard apple, carambola, blimbing, 
jambu, jak, brinjal, mango, &c., have been introduced. The 
wild or semi-cultivated fruits of Triphasia, Zizyphus, Allo- 
phylus ? Tamarind, Terminalia, Sonneratia, Physalis, Panda- 
nus are also eaten. The cocoanut has already been men- 
tioned. 
Murraya (rare) and Moringa are cultivated as curry stuffs, 
and Premna is perhaps also used. Coffee and sugar are 
imported, but sugar is principally made from cocoanut sap 
(ra). No alcoholic drinks are known. Coffee is used by 
everyone who can afford it, tea by only a select few who have 
learnt the habit in India or Ceylon. 
