Note 86 — IV. CONCERNING INDIA THE LESS.[71]

Belluri I conceive to be the Caryota urens, which, according to Rheede (Hortus Malabar., i.), is called by the Brahmans in Malabar birala. Most of our author’s names seem to be Persian in form; but there is probably no Persian name for this palm. Richardson, however, has “barhal, name of a tree and its fruit.” This tree yields more toddy than any other palm, as much as a hundred pints in twenty-four hours. Much sugar is made from it, especially in Ceylon. It also affords a sago, and a fibre for fishing lines, known in England as “Indian gut.” A woolly stuff found at the springing of the fronds, is said by Drury to be used for caulking. I may add that it makes an excellent amadou for smokers; but the specific name does not come from this fact, as I have heard suggested, but from the burning acridity of the fruit when applied to the tongue. The caryota, with its enormous jagged fronds, and huge pendulous bunches of little bead-like berries, is a very beautiful object. The fruit is actually used for beads by the Mahomedans. Buchanan (Mysore, etc., ii, 454) says its leaves are the favourite food of the elephant, and that its sugar is superior to that of the palmyra, but inferior to that of the cocoa nut.