founded with the _Messua ferrea_ of Linnaeus. He asserted it to
be a distinct species, and assigned to it the well-known Singhalese name
"_nagaha_," or _iron-wood tree_. But this conjecture has since proved
erroneous.]

The celebrated Upas tree of Java (_Antiaris toxicaria_) which has been
the subject of so many romances, exploded by Dr. Horsfield[1], was
supposed by Dr. Gardner to exist in Ceylon, but more recent scrutiny has
shown that what he mistook for it, was an allied species, the _A.
saccidora_, which grows at Kornegalle, and in other parts of the island;
and is scarcely less remarkable, though for very different
characteristics. The Ceylon species was first brought to public notice
by E. Rawdon Power, Esq., government agent of the Kandyan province, who
sent specimens of it, and of the sacks which it furnishes, to the branch
of the Asiatic Society at Colombo. It is known to the Singhalese by the
name of "ritigaha," and is identical with the _Lepurandra saccidora_,
from which the natives of Coorg, like those of Ceylon, manufacture an
ingenious substitute for sacks by a process which is described by Mr.
Nimmo.[2] "A branch is cut corresponding to the length and breadth of
the bag required, it is soaked and then beaten with clubs till the liber
separates from the timber. This done, the sack which is thus formed out
of the bark is turned inside out, and drawn downwards to permit the wood
to be sawn off, leaving a portion to form the bottom which is kept
firmly in its place by the natural attachment of the bark."

[Footnote 1: The vegetable poisons, the use of which is ascribed to the
Singhalese, are chiefly the seeds of the _Datura_, which act as a
powerful narcotic, and those of the _Croton tiglium_, the excessive
effect of which ends in death. The root of the _Nerium odorum_ is
equally fatal, as is likewise the exquisitely beautiful _Gloriosa
superba_, whose brilliant flowers festoon the jungle in the plains of
the low country. See Bennett's account of the _Antiaris_, in HORSFIELD'S
_Plantae Javanicae_.]

[Footnote 2: Catalogue of Bombay Plants, p. 193. The process in Ceylon
is thus described in Sir W. HOOKER'S _Report on the Vegetable Products_
exhibited in Paris in 1855: "The trees chosen for the purpose measure
above a foot in diameter. The felled trunks are cut into lengths, and
the bark is well beaten with a stone or a club till the parenchymatous
part comes off, leaving only the inner bark attached to the