The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-09-08
MISCELLANY.
LETTER FROM ABROAD.


LETTER FROM ABROAD.
Ceylon.
Po1Nr De GALE, May %, 1875.
Editor of St. Paul Dispatch:
This is fortified town in Ceylon, stu
ated upon rocky promontory at the
southwestern extremity Of the Island;
and having been favored with fair winds
and pleasant weather, our journey from
Australia here was very short one.
Ceylon, which is the serendib of the
Arabian Nights, the centre of Buddhism
and the garden Of India, passed through
various Eastern rules until it became
successfully the property of the Portu-
gese, the Dutch, and was finally coded to
the English, by the treaty of Ameius, in
1912.
Under this latter rule the Island has
vastly improved; the tangled jungles
cleared and forests felled to make way
for plantations Of coffee, whose produce
they say is already sufficient for the con-
sumption Of the whole of Great Britain.
They also possess large commerce in
cinnamon, nutnegs and other spices. l
visited the cinnamon gardens aad was
much pleased. Cinnamon is the second
bark of kind of bay tree, which scarcely
grows anywhere except in the Island of
Ceylon. The root OF the cinnamon tree
divides into several branches. 1t is COW
cred with bark, gray without and red
within. The leaf is long and pointed, the
blossoms are small and white and of
very pleasing smell, very like the Lily of
the Valley. When the tree is two years
old, the two banks are taken off. The
outer bark is good for nothing, but the
inner one is dried in the sun, when it
rolls up of itself, about the size of fin
ger, and this is what we call cinnamon.
The nutmeg is beautiful tree, all
parts of it; even the leaves are aromatic,
but only the nutmegs and the mace are
exported. The fruit is of an oval form,
about the size of a peach and Of deep
reddish orange color. The nut is covered
with three coats. The first falls off of
itself when it is ripe; the second then
appears, which is very thin and delicate;
it is taken off with great care from the
nut and exposed to the sun to dry; this
is the mace. The third coat is immedi.
ately next the nutmeg.
They take the nut out of its she'll, and
put it into lime water for some days. and
then it is ready to be sent abroad. It
yields annually three crops. The first,
which is plucked in April, is the best; the
other crops are gathered in August and
December. One of the NEST noticeable
results of English enterprise in Ceylon is
the fine roads that traverse every part
Of the Island, some of them reaching an
altitude of more than six thousand feet
above the sea.
The road from Gale to Colombo is,
in it's peculiar style, very beautiful. 1t
is perfect avenue of palms, over sixty
miles long, with rich underground of
smaller trees, many of them gorgeous
with flowers and overrun with climbing
plants. Myriads of birds of the most
gaudy plumage dart amid the branches,
whilst in every direction are to be seen
clouds of butterflies of every shape and
hue, and now and again, as foil to the
picture, you will see the hideous but
harmless ignann Qizard) crossing the
road and kissing as it retreats. We we're
accompanied in most of our drives, by a
gentleman, long resident Of the country
and who gave us much interesting infor-
nation, pointing out the different
varieties of trees and explaining them to
VI.
OF the numerous gifts of Providence
to the natives of this country, I think
the cocoa .nut palm should rank first. It
grows from thirty to sixty feet in height,
and is crowned at the top by verdant
capitol it has no branches, properly
speaking, but the leaves are from twelve
to fourteen feet in length, with strong
middle rib; under this foliage punches Of
blossoms, clusters of green fruit and 9TH
ers arrived at maturity, appear mingled
together on the same tree; there appears
to be no part Of it that is not put to some
use.
The trunk furnishes very good timber,
and the leaves make an excellent thatch,
as we'll as common umbrellas, mats,
brooms, and other articles. The nuts
not only furnish delicious milk and a
kernel sweet as an almond, but when
dried fand pressed afford abundance of
pure sweet oil, which is extensively used
in cooking and for burning in lamps,
while the refuse feeds their cattle and
poultry. The shell makes cups, ladies
and other domestic utensils, while the
husk is of the greatest Importance, being