organisation irresistibly suggests the wonderful means ordained by
Providence to spread this valuable plant along the barren beach to which
no seed-devouring bird ever resorts; and even the unobservant natives,
struck by its singular utility in resisting the encroachments of the
sea, have recorded their admiration by conferring on it the name of
_Maha-Rawana roewula_,--"the great beard of Rawana or Rama."

The banks being thus ingeniously protected from the action of the air
above, and of the water at their base, other herbaceous plants soon
cover them in quick succession, and give the entire surface the first
aspect of vegetation. A little retired above high water are to be found
a species of _Aristolochia_[1], the Sayan[2], or _Choya_, the roots of
which are the Indian Madder (in which, under the Dutch Government, some
tribes in the Wanny paid their tribute); the gorgeous _Gloriosa
superba_, the beautiful _Vistnu-karandi_[3] with its profusion of blue
flowers, which remind one of the English "Forget-me-not," and the
thickly-matted verdure of the _Hiramana-doetta_[4], so well adapted for
imparting consistency to the soil. In the next stage low shrubs make
their appearance, their seeds being drifted by the waves and wind, and
taking ready root wherever they happen to rest. The foremost of these
are the Scaevolas[5] and Screw Pines[6], which grow luxuriantly within
the actual wash of the tide, while behind them rises a dense growth of
peculiar plants, each distinguished by the Singhalese by the prefix of
"Moodu," to indicate its partiality for the sea.[7]

[Footnote 1: _Aristolocia bracteata_. On the sands to the north of
Ceylon there is also the _A. Indica_, which forms the food of the great
red and white butterfly (_Papilio Hector_).]

[Footnote 2: _Hedyotis umbellata_. A very curious account of the Dutch
policy In relation to Choya dye will be found in a paper _On the
Vegetable Productions of Ceylon_, by W.C. ONDAATJIE, in the _Ceylon
Calendar_ for 1853. See also BERTOLACCI, B. iii. p. 270.]

[Footnote 3: Evolvulus alsinoides.]

[Footnote 4: Lippia nodiflora.]

[Footnote 5: Scaevola takkada and S. Koenigii]

[Footnote 6: Pandanus odoratissimus.]

[Footnote 7: _Moodu-kaduru (Ochrosia parviflora); Moodu-cobbe
(Ornitrophe serrata); Moodu-murunga (Sophora tomentosa_,) &c. &c.
Amongst these marine shrubs the Nil-picha (_Guettarda speciosca_), with
its white and delightfully fragrant flowers, is a conspicuous obje