From the smaller fan palm toddy is also made: its leaves, which are broad, are used for writing on and for thatching. The palmyra or brab is another species, the leaves of which are also used for thatching, and for fuel. The largest species of this kind of trees is the greater fan palm, which is very abundant in the Payenghaut, or lower Carnage: it is said that each leaf of this tree is capable of covering a dozen men, and that two or three of them are sufficient to roof a cottage. The wood of all these spe cies of palms is excellent for water pipes and rafters. The most beautiful of the palm trees which grows in India is the sago palm, but this is by no means so common as any of the other species. We have by no means enume rated all the uses of the trees of the palm kind. F. P. Bartolomeo says, that he has reckoned up forty different properties that the real palm tree possesses, which are all use ful to man.
Elettoria cardamomum, or the cardamon plant, grows in the mountains above Cochin and Calieut, chiefly in shady places on their declivities and in the vallies. The district of kVyniard, situated on the summit of the western Ghauts, about the 12th degree of latitude, produces the best car damons in India. There are also found at the bottom of the. Matas, at I\ laleatur, cardamon palm, jay pur, Sec. The tree rises about 12 feet in height. The cardamons, or seeds, are brought chiefly in the ships from Bengal, in cases containing about 120 lbs. weight.
It has been long known that the long-pepper tree, Piper longum, was a native of India, particularly of the Malabar and Bengal provinces ; but it is only within these thirty years that the discovery of the black pepper plant (Piper nigrun) was made in the district of Bampa, in the north ern Cirears. Dr. Roxburgh began the cultivation of it in this province in 1787. It is also much cultivated in the province of Malabar, and constitutes one of their principal in latitude 18° 42', to the small islands about 17 miles north by west from Goa, in latitude 50'. This part of the coast is principally occupied by pirates. The sea coast from the Gulf of Cambay to the river Indus is also occu pied principally by pirates.
articles of export. One thousand plants yield from 500 to 1000 lbs of pepper. The plant climbs like a vine ; is from 8 to 12 feet in length ; and is generally supported by the Moochy wood tree, Erythrina corallodendron. Nearly all die forests in the neighbourhood of Yellapura, a town above the western Ghauts, produce pepper spon taneously.
Piper betel, the leaves of which are called betel, is found to succeed best in India on such grounds as can be irriga ted at particular seasons of the year. On that tract of land along the banks of the Megna, the river which bounds the Tipparah district of Bengal on the west, particularly be tween Daoudeaundy and Luckpoor, the P. betel is of ex
cellent quality ; the produce of this tract is so highly es teemed by the natives of the Birman empire, that they make regular contracts annually for the coming crop : it is nearly all bought up by them for ready money. The gene ral use of it, along with the ewe and chunum, has been al ready mentioned ; the leaves of the betel inclose the cate and chunum.
Curcuma, Zedoary, the root of which is sometimes used in medicine as a stomachic, grows in sandy open places in Malabar, where it is called acua by the Brahmins. Doli chos pruriens grows in Bengal, where it is called cadjuct, the plant which produces the gum ammoniac. Heracleum gummiferum, is also a native of the East Indies. The Laurus cassia, which in some respects, but in a very in ferior degree, supplies the place of cinnamon in medicine, and for domestic purposes, is a native of Malabar, and fre quently is called Malabar cinnamon. There are two spe cies of Pterocarpus found in India. The P. draco, which supplies the dragon tree resin, commonly called dragon's blood ; and the P. Santalinus, which supplies the red sand ers wood ; the former is used in medicine, the latter as a colouring matter. P. Draco rises to SO feet high. P. Santalinus is a native of the mountains of India ; it was first discovered there by Kcenig. This tree thrives best on a strong soil, and is found in the greatest abundance, as well as of the best quality, in the Mysore, above the wes tern Ghauts. About 20 miles to the south of Periapatam, there is a tract of land, on which an immense quantity of sanders wood is grown: it is fit to cut in about ten years : the sandal is merely the heart of the wood ; and in order to obtain this, it is usual to cut the tree into pieces, and bury them in di y ground for a month or two : during this time, the outer wood is eaten by the white ants, but they do not touch the heart : the smallest pieces are generally bought up by the Arabians, who distil an essential oil from them : the Chinese buy the largest, and the Indians use those of middle size. In the neighbourhood of Penis patam, there is about 2000 weight produced annually. Tellicherry, on the Malabar coast, is the great mart oh the Mysore sandal wood ; but in the province of Malabar it is scarcely met with, and what there is, is destitute of fragrance. The Sweiteniafcbrifuga, which supplies an astringent and tonic bark, is a native of the East Indies, growing among the mountains of the Rsjahmundry Circar : the natives use it for the cure of intermittents. The Tamarindus inclica, tamarind tree of India, produces tamarinds of a darker co: lour, and drier than those from the West Indies; the pods also are nearly twice as long. The ginger plant grows in most parts of the Malabar coast where tire sea-water can not penetrate ; it is called all by the Brahmins.