much heavier weight than an ordinary Malabar, as
he is a totally different man in form and strength. In fact, the
Cingalese are generally a compactly built and well-limbed race, while
the Malabar is a man averaging full a stone lighter weight.

The most extraordinary in the list of palms is the talipot. The crest
of this beautiful tree is adorned by a crown of nearly circular,
fan-shaped leaves of so touch and durable a texture that they are sewn
together by the natives for erecting portable tents or huts. The
circumference of each leaf at the extreme edge is from twenty to thirty
feet, and even this latter size is said to be frequently exceeded.

Every Cingalese throughout the Kandian district is provided with a
section of one of these leaves, which forms a kind of fan about six
feet in length. This is carried in the hand, and is only spread in
case of rain, when it forms an impervious roofing of about three feet
in width at the broad extremity. Four or five of these sections will
form a circular roof for a small hut, which resembles a large umbrella
or brobdignag mushroom.

There is a great peculiarity in the talipot palm. Is blossoms only
once in a long period of years, and after this it dies. No flower can
equal the elegance and extraordinary dimensions of this blossom; its
size is proportionate to its leaves, and it usurps the place of the
faded crest of green, forming a magnificent crown or plume of
snow-white ostrich feathers, which stand upon the summit of the tall
stem as though they were the natural head of the palm.

There is an interesting phenomenon at the period of flowering. The
great plume already described, prior to its appearing in bloom, is
packed in a large case or bud, about four feet long. In this case the
blossom comes to maturity, at which time the tightened cuticle of the
bard can no longer sustain the pressure of the expanding flower. It
suddenly bursts with a loud report, and the beautiful plume, freed from
its imprisonment, ascends at this signal and rapidly unfolds its
feathers, towering above the drooping leaves which are hastening to
decay.

The areca is a palm of great elegance; it rises to a height of about
eighty feet, and a rich feathery crest adorns the summit. This is the
most delicate stem of all the palm tribe; that of a tree of eighty feet
in length would not exceed five inches in diameter. Nevertheless, I
have never seen an areca palm overturned by a storm; they bow