gar. The _unformed nut_, for medicine and sweetmeats. The _young
nut_ and its milk, for drinking, for dessert; the _green husk_ for
preserves. The _nut_, for eating, for curry, for milk, for cooking. The
_oil_, for rheumatism, for anointing the hair, for soap, for candles,
for light; and the _poonak_, or refuse of the nut after expressing the
oil, for cattle and poultry. The _shell of the nut_, for drinking cups,
charcoal, tooth-powder, spoons, medicine, hookahs, beads, bottles, and
knife-handles. The _coir_, or fibre which envelopes the shell within the
outer husk, for mattresses, cushions, ropes, cables, cordage, canvass,
fishing-nets, fuel, brushes, oakum, and floor mats. The _trunk_, for
rafters, laths, railing, boats, troughs, furniture, firewood; and when
very young, the first shoots, or cabbage, as a vegetable for the table.
The entire list, with a Singhalese enthusiast, is an interminable
narration of the virtues of his favourite tree.]

The most majestic and wonderful of the palm tribe is the _talpat_ or
_talipat_[1], the stem of which sometimes attains the height of 100
feet, and each of its enormous fan-like leaves, when laid upon the
ground, will form a semicircle of 16 feet in diameter, and cover an area
of nearly 200 superficial feet. The tree flowers but once, and dies; and
the natives firmly believe that the bursting of the shadix is
accompanied by a loud explosion. The leaves alone are converted by the
Singhalese to purposes of utility. Of them they form coverings for their
houses, and portable tents of a rude but effective character; and on
occasions of ceremony, each chief and headman on walking abroad is
attended by a follower, who holds above his head an
elaborately-ornamented fan, formed from a single leaf of the talpat.

[Footnote 1: Corypha umbraculifera, _Linn._]

But the most interesting use to which they are applied is as substitutes
for paper, both for books and for ordinary purposes. In the preparation
of _olas_, which is the term applied to them when so employed, the
leaves are taken whilst still tender, and, after separating the central
ribs, they are cut into strips and boiled in spring water. They are
dried first in the shade, and afterwards in the sun, then made into
rolls, and kept in store, or sent to the market for sale. Before they
are fit for writing on they are subjected to a second process, called
_madema_. A smooth plank of areca-palm is tied horizontally between two
trees, ea