The celebrated Upas tree of Java (Antiaris toxicaria) which has been the subject of so many romances, exploded by Dr. Horsfield[1], was supposed by Dr. Gardner to exist in Ceylon, but more recent scrutiny has shown that what he mistook for it, was an allied species, the A. saccidora, which grows at Kornegalle, and in other parts of the island; and is scarcely less remarkable, though for very different characteristics.  The Ceylon species was first brought to public notice by E. Rawdon Power, Esq., government agent of the Kandyan province, who sent specimens of it, and of the sacks which it furnishes, to the branch of the Asiatic Society at Colombo.  It is known to the Singhalese by the name of “ritigaha,” and is identical with the Lepurandra saccidora, from which the natives of Coorg, like those of Ceylon, manufacture an ingenious substitute for sacks by a process which is described by Mr. Nimmo.[2] “A branch is cut corresponding to the length and breadth of the bag required, it is soaked and then beaten with clubs till the liber separates from the timber.  This done, the sack which is thus formed out of the bark is turned inside out, and drawn downwards to permit the wood to be sawn off, leaving a portion to form the bottom which is kept firmly in its place by the natural attachment of the bark.”

[Footnote 1:  The vegetable poisons, the use of which is ascribed to the Singhalese, are chiefly the seeds of the Datura, which act as a powerful narcotic, and those of the Croton tiglium, the excessive effect of which ends in death.  The root of the Nerium odorum is equally fatal, as is likewise the exquisitely beautiful Gloriosa superba, whose brilliant flowers festoon the jungle in the plains of the low country.  See Bennett’s account of the Antiaris, in HORSFIELD’S Plantae Javanicae.]

[Footnote 2:  Catalogue of Bombay Plants, p. 193.  The process in Ceylon is thus described in Sir W. HOOKER’S Report on the Vegetable Products exhibited in Paris in 1855:  “The trees chosen for the purpose measure above a foot in diameter.  The felled trunks are cut into lengths, and the bark is well beaten with a stone or a club till the parenchymatous part comes off, leaving only the inner bark attached to the wood; which is thus easily drawn out by the hand.  The bark thus obtained is fibrous and tough, resembling a woven fabric:  it is sewn at one end into a sack, which is filled with sand, and dried in the sun.”]

As we descend the hills the banyans[1] and a variety of figs make their appearance.  They are the Thugs of the vegetable world, for although not necessarily epiphytic, it may be said that in point of fact no single plant comes to perfection, or acquires even partial development, without the destruction of some other on which to fix itself as its supporter.  The family generally make their first appearance as slender roots hanging from the crown or trunk of some