throne of precious stones and gold; her shield, made | of the same metal; her couch made of the nine precious stones; and his mind became enraptured with the prospect of having her for his own. With joy he entered the fort without asking permission, and gallopped about the streets; after which he ordered his attendant to make a triumphal arch of fragrant flowers. He then spread his carpet on the ground, and sate there, that he might be seen by the passers by. They soon began to inquire about his country, and his object in coming to their city; and when they heard it, they laughed and clapped their hands, saying, Another madman has come to explain the riddles of the princess, and to add another to the list of those whose lives have been sacrificed to their ambition." 66 He arose, and went on till he came to the tenth gate, when the guards pushed him away, and treated him with great contempt. He then sent a letter to the Princess by a confidential person, stating his object, and requesting to be allowed to come into her presence. The next day Veera-maran stood before the beautiful, the splendid Sintha-manni; there she was seated on her throne of diamonds and rubies; there were the warriors, with their shields of gold; there were the poets, there the players on instruments, the tambour, the harps, and the lutes. Near her were females of great wisdom, and all around were garlands of flowers; there was the precious ointment, and there were those who sprinkled the guests with perfumed waters. Veera-maran looked around, and then with great dignity walked up to the Princess, and requested to have a seat by her side on the throne. She then commenced her riddles (which in number amounted to a thousand); but Veera-maran, so fast as she proposed them, gave the most complete explanation. The Princess became greatly agitated, as she thought she must now give her hand to this young stranger. They sprinkled her with rose-water, all the courtiers were much excited, and one thing only remained to be done, before this wonderful transaction should come to its crisis. The Prince had to give her a riddle, which if she failed to explain, she became his own; but if she succeeded, his life was the forfeit. Veeramaran boldly gave his riddle, and retired for the night. In the course of the evening, a beautiful female, in elegant attire, came to his lodgings, and said, "O you who have beautiful arms, I have come to touch your majestic feet, and gain your favour." He inquired who she was, when she replied, "I am the daughter of the Prime-Minister to the Princess Sintha-manni, to whom, I am told, you have proposed a riddle, which she cannot explain. Now I wish you to unfold it to me, that I may tell the meaning in the morning." The Prince then said, "Give me the jewels and ornaments which you now have on as a pledge, and I will unfold the riddle." This being done, she expresed a wish to retire for a moment, but did not return. The morning came, and there was the Princess, with great pomp seated on her throne. In her hand was a large sword, and near her were the executioners, ready to drag off the body of Veera-māran. She then, with great triumph, explained the riddle he had proposed the day before, and was about to order him for execution, when he begged to be allowed to relate a dream he had during the night. This being granted, he said, "A young female, disguised like a parrot of the groves, came and pledged her jewels to get the meaning of my riddle. I will hand for him to desist, and said, "I was your visiter -I am conquered. Come, sit on my throne." She then made obeisance to him; the courtiers worshipped him; and Veera-māran became the husband of the beautiful Sinthā-manni. By this account, we gain a clearer view of the importance attached to the riddle proposed at the marriage of Sampson; of the Psalmist, who said, "I will open my dark sayings;" of the riddle" 'put forth" by the Prophet Ezekiel at the Divine command; of the skill and industry of the Queen of Sheba; and of the adroitness of Solomon who gave an answer "to all her questions." [ROBERTS'S Oriental Illustrations of the Scriptures.] THE LINNET AND THE HAWK. A FABLE. Too oft when Force and Cunning seck She walks unheard, with feet of wool! Where London spreads its precincts wide, A LINNET, in his prime of song, In health and tune, with man his friend? So may they fall whose base intent Prevent the wrong, DEFEND THE RIGHT! M. SPENSER'S Fairy Queen, Book I., Canto 3. That a Hawk did lately fly at a Linnet, in a cage which was sus show them to you." He then began to take them pended against the window of a house, in a crowded neighbourhood from his waist-cloth, when the Princess waved her in the city, is a fact. He was taken, and is still living. THE NATURAL AND CIVIL HISTORY OF VI. VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.-THE COCOA-NUT TREE. THE most remarkable vegetable productions of Ceylon In Ceylon, this filament, which is called coire, is obtained from a tract of cocoa-nut trees, forming a belt, a hundred and thirty miles long, and one mile and a-half broad, along the south-western coast. It has been calculated that this belt contains between ten and eleven millions of cocoa-nut trees, and produces, besides a vast quantity of oil, six thousand leaguers of arrack, and upwards of three million pounds' weight of coire, sufficient to rig twenty first-rate ships of war. The produce of a good tree in this belt, has been estimated at from fifty to a hundred cocoa-nuts in the year, each nut, as food, being equivalent to at least three ounces of rice. From the kernel of the cocoa-nut is extracted a thick oil, used by the natives throughout India, for lighting their houses and anointing their bodies. The shell is converted into ladles. At the top of the tree grows a large shoot, two feet long, and as thick as a man's thigh; commonly called the cocoa-nut cabbage; when boiled, it is an i excellent vegetable for the table; but as soon as it is cut off, the trunk gradually perishes. The toddy, from which arrack is distilled, is drawn from this tree; a pot, measuring two quarts, is fixed to a shoot, in which an incision is made at night, and is brought down at sun-rise filled with the exuded sap. The filaments that surround the stem are manufactured into a kind of sackcloth, which is very durable. The wood of the trunk is porous and spongy, and therefore of little value, but it is occasionally employed for pillars to support temporary buildings. The leaves are used for thatching the roofs, and covering the walls, of huts; they are also converted into torches, when dry, and, when fresh, are a favourite food of the elephant. THE PALMYRA. supplying a valuable wood for exportation, is of the greatest importance to the natives, its fruit and roots being used by them for food, and many other parts being very successfully applied to the purposes of manufacture. The cocoa-nut tree is almost exclusively confined to the southern, and the palmyra to the northern parts of the island, on the coast. THE AREEKA-TREE. THE аreeka-tree is the smallest of the palms, the stem not being more than a foot in circumference, though it attains to the height of sixty feet. It grows perfectly straight, and the leaves are confined to the top. The nuts, which grow in clusters at the bottom of the leaves, are of an oval shape, and somewhat smaller than those of the palmyra. They resemble nutmegs in consistence, being solid all through, and of a faint white, streaked with red. One of these trees yields from 300 to 1000 nuts, and some produce 1500. "They bear," says Knox, “but once in the year, generally; but commonly, there are green nuts enough to eat all the year long. The leaves fall off every year, and the skins, upon which they grow, with them. These skins grow upon the body of the tree, and the leaves grow out of them. They also clasp about the buds or blossoms which bear the nuts, and as the buds swell, so this skin cover gives way to them, till at length it falls quite off with the great leaf on it: it is somewhat like leather, and of great use to the country people; it serves them instead of basins to eat their rice in, and when they go a journey, to tie up their provisions; for in these skins or leaves they can tie up any liquid substance, as oil or water, doubling it in the middle and rolling it on the two sides, almost like a purse. Ordinarily, they are about two feet in length, and a foot and a half in breadth. In this country there are no inns, therefore, when people travel, the manner is to carry, ready dressed, what provisions they can, made up in these leaves. The trees within have only a kind of pith, and split easily from one end to the other. The wood is hard and very strong; it is used as laths for houses, and also as rails instead of hedges. Money is not very plentiful in this land; but, by means of these nuts, which are a great commodity to carry to the Coromandel coast, the inhabitants furnish themselves with all things they want. The common price of nuts, when there is a trade, as there was when I came first on this land, is twenty thousand for one dollar; but now (A.D. 1681) they lie and grow, or rot on the ground under the trees." THE JAGGREE-PALM. A FOURTH species of palm is the jaggree, so called from its fertility in the production of sugar. It has the same tall branchless stem as the cocoa-nut tree; but the fruit hangs from the top in straight lines upwards of a yard long, all round the trunk. The leaves are serrated. The nut is about the size of a common marble, and is chewed in every part of India with the betel-leaf. Sago is the pith of this palm, dried and granulated. THE TALIPAT-TREE. THE most remarkable of the palm tribe is the talipat-tree, of which a detailed account was given in No. 152 of the Saturday Magazine, of which Knox says, "This tree is as big and tall as a ship's mast, and very straight, bearing only leaves, which are of great use and benefit to the inha THE next most useful of the palms in Ceylon is the pal-bitants; one single leaf being so broad and large, that it nyra: its manner of growth is similar to that of the cocoa-nut tree; the stem attains nearly the same height, but is more uniformly perpendicular, and the texture of the timber much firmer and more durable. The blacker this is the more valuable, and it has the rare quality of resisting the depredations of insects. The leaves are shorter, harder, and thicker, than those of the tree just described, having the form of an opened fan, as which they are frequently used: upon slips of these leaves all the Cingalese manuscripts are written with an iron style. The fruit of this palm is a firm pulp, about the bigness of a new-born child's head, of a black colour, emitting an agrecable perfume, and containing in its centre, from one to three nuts, about the size of a common plum. The toddy drawn from the palmyra makes better arrack than that extracted from any other palm-tree, and a very good sugar is obtained by mixing the toddy with the pulp of the fruit, and boiling them together. This tree, besides * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. II., p. 203; and Vol. V., p. 186. Ibid, Vol. V., p. 90. it rains. The leaf, being dried, is very strong and limber, ́ will cover fifteen or twenty men, and keep them dry when along with them: for though this leaf be thus broad when and most wonderfully made for men's convenience to carry it is open, yet it folds close, like a lady's fan, and then it is no bigger than a man's arm, and extremely light. The people cut them into pieces and carry them in their hands." The whole leaf spread out is round, almost like a circle; but the pieces cut for use are nearly like unto a triangle. They lay them upon their heads as they travel, with the peaked end foremost, which is convenient to make their way through the boughs and thickets. When the sun is vehement they use them to shade themselves from the heat: all soldiers carry them; for besides the benefit of these leaves make their tents to lie under in the night. keeping them dry, in case it should rain upon the march, This tree bears no fruit until the last year of its life, and then it comes out on the top, and spreads abroad in great branches, all full first of yellow blossoms, most beautiful to behold, but of a very strong smell; then it comes to a' 1835.j THE SATURDAY MAGAZINE. fruit, round and very hard, as big as our largest cherries, but good only for seed to set: and though the tree bears but once, it makes amends, bearing such great abundance, that one tree yields seed enough for a country. If these trees stand near any houses, the smell of the blossom so much annoys the inhabitants, that they, regarding not the seed, forthwith cut them down. The stem has within it a pith only, which is very good to eat, if the tree be cut down before it runs to seed. It is beaten to flour in mortars, and baked into cakes, which taste much like wheat bread. It serves instead of corn before the harvest is ripe." THE EVE'S APPLE. THIS is one of the most remarkable vegetable productions of the island. The tree which bears this singular fruit, grows to It has an the height of from twenty to thirty feet. irregular inelegant stem, with a scanty growth on the lower parts, but on the top the leaves germinate luxuriantly, forming an extensive and graceful crest. The branches shoot upward, though a few strike out horizontally, and these are generally charged with the greatest quantity of fruit. This is a deadly poison, and as if to remove the danger of mischief, Providence seems to have placed it above the reach both of rational and brute animals, as it hangs chiefly upon the crest of the tree, and never grows so low as to be reached from the ground. The trunk is about the size of a man's body, and covered with a dark corrugated bark. The leaves are long and narrow, shaped like those of the bay tree, with a smooth shining surface, the fibres crossing the filament that divides the leaf longitudinally, being strongly marked and regular. The fruit, which hangs from the bough on a long limber stem, about the size of a quill, is shaped something like the large white magnum-bonum plum, somewhat flattened at the extremities, but exhibiting a feature as singular as it is unpleasing. From the upper side it appears precisely as if a portion had been bitten off, and from this circumstance the Mohammedans, who imagine the primitive paradise to have been situated in Ceylon, have called it the forbidden fruit; conceiving that the mark of that breach of the Divine interdiction, which entailed so grievous a curse upon the posterity of Adam, has been placed by the Almighty upon this singular tree, and that, in consequence of Eve's crime, the fruit was rendered poisonous, in order to secure it from future profanation.. The blossom is a white flower something larger than that of the apple-tree, opening into five long pointed leaves, slightly pinuated, and presenting a pod which shoots from the extremity of a capsule, something like that of the common gilly-flower. The fruit is very tempting to the eye, being of a vivid orange on the outside, and looking exceedingly beautiful, as the rays of the sun fall upon its smooth and glowing surface. When cut, the pulp, which is solid and without any stone, is of a deep ardent crimson, but exceedingly acrid when the smallest quantity is placed in contact with the tongue. The Mohammedans of Ceylon formerly expressed great veneration for this tree, and connecting it with the print of Adam's foot on the summit of a mountain in the interior, of which they are very tenacious in their belief, they feel satisfied that this island is the locality of the earthly Paradise. This belief is moreover strengthened by the legend of Adam's bridge, and the tombs of Cain and Abel in the island of Ramisseram. THE CINNAMON-TREE. THE Cinnamon-tree, which is the most profitable vegetable production of this island, is a kind of laurel, growing to the height of from twenty to thirty feet. The trunk is about the size of an ordinary man's body, giving out a great number of large horizontal branches, clothed with thick foliage. The roots, which strike deep into the earth, and spread considerably, are covered with an odoriferous bark on the outside, of a grayish-brown, and on the inside of a reddish hue. Camphor is extracted from them. The stalk of the leaf when chewed, tastes strongly of cinnamon, but is fresher and more juicy The leaves are oval, from four to six inches long, and about three broad, with a smooth surface and plain edge. The blossoms are numerous clusters of small white flowers, about the size of the lilac, which they much resemble. The tree produces a fruit of the form of an acorn, but not larger than a small black-currant, and in taste like the juniper-berry. When removed from its socket, it has the shape of an olive, and when dry, becomes a thin shell, containing an oval kernel, no larger than the seed of an apple. If boiled in water, it yields an oil, which floats on the top, and is used for burning in The trees planted for the purpose of obtaining cinnamon, In order to ascertain whether the bark is ripe, the peeler When a branch is completely cleared of small shoots and canes. When cinnamon is shipped for exportation, a quantity of loose black-pepper is thrown in upon it, which, by attracting the superfluous moisture, preserves and improves the cinnamon, while at the same time its own flavour is improved. Thus the two spices prove mutually beneficial. The best cinnamon is of a light-brown colour, and does fine texture, of a smooth surface, and brittle. Its taste is not much exceed the thickness of royal paper. It is of a sweet and sharp. The coarse cinnamon is dark, thick, and hard. It has a hot and pungent taste, exciting the tongue, The quantity of cinnamon sent from Ceylon to England and leaving upon the palate a somewhat acrid bitter. and fifty-three thousand pounds weight, for which the yearly, amounts to four thousand bales, or three hundred India Company pay to the British Government, a stipulated price of sixty thousand pounds sterling, and transport it to England at their own expense. Oil of cinnamon was formerly made at Columbo, of the fragments and small pieces broken off in packing. A great any other quantity of this oil is obtained from the coarse cinnamon, which is considered unworthy of exportation in shape. Three hundred pounds weight of the bark, are said to yield no more than twenty-four ounces of oil. It is, the rate of ten guineas a quart. It is highly esteemed therefore, necessarily dear, and used commonly to sell at both as a medicine and as a perfume. That of the best pale-gold colour, and different from all other oils. Its quality, extracted from the finer sorts of cinnamon, is of a excellence is determined by its sinking in water. The oil distilled from coarse cinnamon is of a dark-brown hue, and does not sink in water. The wood of the tree, when deThe persons employed in the cultivation and barking of prived of the bark, has no smell, and is chiefly used for fuel. cinnamon, are called Chalias. They are a distinct tribe of people; not the lowest, but almost the poorest of the Cingalese casts. They appear, however, to be contented with 160 THE SATURDAY MAGAZINE. their condition, never repining at its severity. They feel few or no wants, wear no clothing but a coarse bandage round the waist, and live almost in a state of barbarous desuetude. They are governed in the same manner as other casts, by their own officers, over whom is placed an English superintendent, who is looked up to as the chief of the whole tribe. The inhabitants of each district where cinnamon grows, are bound to deliver yearly, a certain quantity ready prepared for the market. Upon which condition they are allowed to have gardens and pieces of land rent free, besides enjoying other privileges. They likewise obtain additional remuneration, sometimes in rice, and sometimes in money, according to the time and labour employed by them in the public service. Every individual is obliged to furnish a stated proportion of cinnamon in the season; and if any one deliver a larger quantity than what is required of him by the stipulation of the British Government, he draws extra payment for the surplus portion*. The principal figure represented in our engraving, is RAJA PAXA, chief of the cast of cinnamon peelers in Ceylon. When the Dutch slave-masters agreed to consider as free, all the children of their slaves, born after the 12th of August, 1816, this amiable person not only followed their example, but was even anxious to bestow immediate liberty upon all slaves, possessed either by himself or by any of his relatives. He is extremely hospitable to Europeans, a man of extensive information, and the best Sanscrit and Pali scholar in the island. The print represents Raja Paxa in the rich costume of his country, attended by two servants, bearing umbrellas. It is copied from a picture by a native J. H. C. artist, kindly lent by Sir Alexander Johnston. See CORDINER. RAJA PAXA, CHIEF OF THE CINNAMON PEELERS. LONDON: Published by JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND; and sold by all Booksellers. |