330 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
The manjapumeram is remarkable for having a fresh and 
flourishing appearance during the night, while its boughs 
begin to droop as soon as the sun appears above the ho- 
rizon, and do not again raise their heads till he has set. In 
appearance it resembles the olive ; and, according to the 
Indian poets, is the tree into which their Daphne was me- 
tamorphosed on rejecting the embraces of the Sun. 
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 continu- 
ing open from four in the evening till four in the morning, 
and remaining shut during the other twelve hours. It is 
said to be customary for the Candians 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 can- 
not otherwise be discovered, it in some degree supplies the 
want of a better time-piece. 
The limes bear a small fruit resembling lemons. 
The manghas-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 sa 
