ader can easily imagine the beautiful effect of a broad
mountain side covered with gorgeous rhododendron-trees in full bloom,
so abundant that the very atmosphere seems to be scarlet with the
strong reflection of the flowers. Like the superb sunset of the north,
accompanied by the orange, scarlet, and fiery red of the twilight
glow, were this mountain of rhododendrons to be literally reproduced
by the painter's art, we should think it an exaggeration.

In the opening month of the year, this regal flower is in full bloom
on Adam's Peak, and so continues until July, when it takes its
winter's sleep. The green leaves of the species growing high up the
mountain are silver-lined, while those lower down are brown on the
under side. The former have also stouter stems, and are more stocky in
all respects. The latter, to a casual observer, are more delicate in
form and more beautiful in color.

CHAPTER VI.

Arboreal King of the Forest.--The Palm
Family.--Over-Generous Nature and her Liberal
Provisions.--Product of the Cocoanut-Tree.--The
Wide-Spreading Banian.--Excellent Public Roads.--Aquatic
Birds and Plants.--Native Fruit Trees.--The
Mangosteen.--Spice-Bearing Trees.--Treatment of
Women.--Singhalese Rural Life.--Physical Character of Tamil
Men.--Tree Climbing.--Native Children.--Numerical Relation
of the Sexes.--Caste as respected in Ceylon.--Tattooing the
Human Body.

Of all vegetable nature, so abundant, prolific, and beautiful in this
equatorial region, one most delights in the characteristic and
ever-present palm,--arboreal king of the forest. Ceylon has seven very
important varieties native to its soil, which are found in great
abundance especially upon the southern coast of the island. These are
the cocoanut, the palmyra, the kittool, the areca, the date, the
talipot, and the fan palm. The latter member of this family, seen in
greatest perfection at Singapore, is a conspicuous ornament which
greets the stranger immediately upon landing, and its peculiar shape
is almost constantly to be met with, go where one may upon that
interesting island. It springs up from the earth with a comparatively
short stem before the branches begin, unlike most other palms,
presenting an appearance of an expanded fan, as though it were
artificially trained to grow in this particular shape. It reaches a
height of forty feet or more, and forms a distinctive feature of the
scenery