The Calamander[1], the most valuable cabinet wood of the island, resembling rose-wood, but much surpassing it both in beauty and durability, has at all times been in the greatest repute in Ceylon.  It grows chiefly in the southern provinces, and especially in the forests at the foot of Adam’s Peak; but here it has been so prodigally felled, first by the Dutch, and afterwards by the English, without any precautions for planting or production, that it has at last become exceedingly rare.  Wood of a large scantling is hardly procurable at any price; and it is only in a very few localities, the principal of which is Saffragam, in the western province, that even small sticks are now to be found; one reason, assigned for this is that the heart of the tree is seldom sound, a peculiarity which extends to the Cadooberia.

[Footnote 1:  D. hirsuta.]

The twisted portions, and especially the roots of the latter, yield veneers of unusual beauty, dark wavings and blotches, almost black, being gracefully disposed over a delicate fawn-coloured ground.  Its density is so great (nearly 60 lbs. to a cubic foot) that it takes an exquisite polish, and is in every way adapted for the manufacture of furniture, in the ornamenting of which the native carpenters excel.  The chiefs and headmen, with a full appreciation of its beauty, take particular pride in possessing specimens of this beautiful wood, roots of which they regard as most acceptable gifts.

Notwithstanding its value, the tree is nearly eradicated, and runs some risk of becoming extinct in the island; but, as it is not peculiar to Ceylon, it may be restored by fresh importations from the south-eastern coast of India, of which it is equally a native, and I apprehend that the name, Calamander, which was used by the Dutch, is but a corruption of “Coromandel.”

Another species of cabinet wood is produced from the Nedun[1], a large tree common on the western coast; it belongs to the Pea tribe, and is allied to the Sisso of India.  Its wood, which is lighter than the “Blackwood” of Bombay, is used for similar purposes.

[Footnote 1:  Dalbergia lanceolaria.]

The Tamarind tree[1], and especially its fine roots, produce a variegated cabinet wood of much beauty, but of such extreme hardness as scarcely to be workable by any ordinary tool.[2]

[Footnote 1:  Tamarindus Indica.]

[Footnote 2:  The natives of Western India have a belief that the shade of the tamarind tree is unhealthy, if not poisonous.  But in Ceylon it is an object of the people, especially in the north of the island, to build their houses under it, from the conviction that of all trees its shade is the coolest.  In this feeling, too, the Europeans are so far disposed to concur that it has been suggested whether there may not be something peculiar in the respiration of its leaves.  The Singhalese have an idea that the twigs of the ranna-wara (Cassia auriculata) diffuse an agreeable coolness, and they pull them for the sake of enjoying it by holding them in their hands or applied to the head.  In the south of Ceylon it is called the Matura tea-tree, its leaves being infused as a substitute for tea.]