If
you were to see a cinnamon-tree, you might mistake it for a laurel;--a
tree so often found in English gardens. The cinnamon-trees are never
allowed to grow tall, because it is only the upper branches which are
much prized for their bark. The little children of Ceylon may often be
seen sitting in the shade, peeling off the bark with their knives; and
this bark is afterwards sent to England to flavor puddings, and to mix
with medicine.
There are also groves of cocoa-nut trees on the shores of Ceylon. A few
of these trees are a little fortune to a poor man; for he can eat the
_fruit_, build his house with the _wood_, roof it with the _leaves_, make
cups of the _shell_, and use the oil of the _kernel_ instead of candles.
The JACK-TREE bears a larger fruit than any other in the world;--as large
as a horse's head,--and so heavy that a woman can only carry one upon her
head to market.. This large fruit does not hang on the tree by a stalk,
but grows out of the trunk, or the great branches. This is well arranged,
for so large a fruit would be too heavy for a stalk, and might fall off,
and hurt the heads of those sitting beneath its shade. The outside of
this fruit is like a horse-chestnut, green, and prickly; the inside is
yellow, and is full of kernels, like beans. The wood is like
mahogany,--hard and handsome.
But there is a tree in Ceylon, still more curious than the jack-tree. It
is the TALPOT-TREE.
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