2. The cocoa-nut tree, which is perhaps the rich est known in the world. Besides the nut, with its milk, this tree produces mirra,—a mild beverage, without acidity or powers of intoxication ; toddy, from which the spirituous liquor called arack is dis tilled ; cocoa-nut oil ; the jagery, a kind of sugar, manufactured from the miffs; and the coir, from which ropes are made. The average quantity of arack exported annually from Ceylon may stated at 5200 leagers, of 150 gallons each. The great markets for this article have hitherto been Madras and Bombay, with the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. Within the last three years, some hundreds of leagers have been brought to England, and sold from 5s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. per gallon. S. The palmyra tree, which, after the cocoa-nut tree, is the richest plant in the east. It requires ten years before it bears fruit, but, as is asserted, it will continue doing so for SOO years. This tree contributes in many ways to feed the lower class of natives in Ceylon. The fruit, when green, affords a pleasant beverage ; and, when ripe, a nourishing and wholesome food. Sometimes the juice of it is expressed, which har .
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dens and is preserved for a long time, and is eaten by the natives in different ways. The shell and the fibres, after the juice is pressed out, form excellent fattening food for cattle ; and if the fruit be put under ground for two or three months, it strikes strong roots, which are also good for the food of man. The value of the tree, when cut down, is from four to five rix-dollars ; and the annual re venue drawn by government from the duties on the exportation of palmyra timber amounts to about 25,000 4. The arreca nut is a very • important article of Ceylon produce, being the best of the kind in India. The nuts are exported chiefly to the Coromandel and Malabar coasts ; and the an nual revenue derived by government from the duties on the exportation of this article may be stated at •125,000 rix-dollars. 5. Tobacco, which is culti vated in the district of 3afnapatam, of a peculiar quality, and prepared in a particular manner for chewing. 6. Ceylon produces various sorts of wood, of the finest and richest kinds, for cabinet-making. The scarcest and dearest is the calamander, of a hard and close grain, beautifully veined with different shades of black and brown. The pomander greatly resembles it, but the veins are not so fine. The ream wood has also very beautiful veins of thesame colours, but smaller and more regularly striped. The jack t000d very much resembles mahogany, and is used for the same purposes. The ebony and satin woods are well known. The sappan wood is a kind of log-wood, used for dyeing cotton - cloth of a fine red, or rather very deep orange colour. • 7. The pearl-fishery has been particularly described in the tricyclopcedia. 8. Ceylon is rich in precious 'atones. Of these the most valuable are, the oriental sapphire, topaz, ruby, amethyst, and blue sapphire.; the cat's-eye, which is the finest known of that kind ; the tourmaline, of every shade ; the amethyst, which is superior in brilliancy to that of Brazil ; the cinna mon stone ; the garnet, and the moon-stone,, which is a species of opal. Ceylon also produces the finest
jet and cryetal of different tinges. Pepper, coffee, and cardamom, are likewise cultivated in Ceylon ; but these productions, it is said, are not indigenous, having been introduced by the Dutch, who also made unsuccessful attempts to rear the silk-worm, and cultivate the mulberry-tree.
As there are no manufactures of any consequence, the commerce of the island consists in the export ation of its natural productions, and the import ation chiefly of rice and other grain, and cloth. The following table will show the respective value ef the whole exports and imports, during a period of five years, with the amount of the duties an nually collected by Government. The sums are expressed in rix•dollars.
Export. tnports. 1809, 2,660,795 2,635,235 44027 1810, 2,777,997 3,112,748 480,438 1811, 2,781,633 3,574,313 461,495 1812, 2,442,895 4,215,399 410,185 1813, 2,443,940 6,378,739 408,819 From this table it will appear.that there is awn. siderable commercial balance against Ceylon. This is occasioned by the great annual importations of rice and cloth ; and it might be removed by giving greater encouragement to the cultivation of grain, and by the introduction of cotton, and the manu facture of that article into clothing for the natives. For these purposes our new acquisitions are emi nently adapted. The Candian territory has always produced more rice than was wanted by its inha bitants; and cotton grows most luxuriantly in the interior of Ceylon. Nothing, in short, is wanted but industry and capital to render Ceylon perfectly in dependent for food and clothing.
The relative amount of the revenue and expen• diture of the Colonial Government, during the yeas 1811 and 1812, was as follows : • Revenue. Expenditure.
1811, '2,926,228 ltds. 3,336,038 R.ds, 1812, 3,028,446 The balances constituted by the excess of the ex. penditure beyond the revenue have been covered by the issue of debentures ; by the sums paid into the treasury by civil servants, for the civil fund, and bor. rowed by Government ; by some balances that re mained in favour of the Ceylon Government, in the hands of its agents at the presidencies of India; and' by anticipating some of the public resources, which are understood to have Seen afterwards made good by the revenue of the pearl-fishery, in 11313. A con siderable saving to the revenue might probably be ef fected by means of an improved method of collo tion, and by a diminution-of the number of civil ser vants. But the greatest advantage would undoubt edly be derived from a well-directed attention to the improvement of the resources of this important co lony, by stimulating the industry of its inhabitants, and encouraging the cultivation of its various article of produce.—See Lord Valeatia's Travels ; Asiatic Annual Register ; The History If Ceylon, by Ph& lethes, London, 1817 ; and particularly the follow kg instructive work : A View of the Agrindnirsl, Commercial, and Financial Interests of Ceylos, by Anthony Bertolacci, Esq. London, 1817. (n-)