. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka. ClIAF. VIL] THE BAOBAB TRRK. 559 Tlie fort at Manaar, built by tlie Portuguese and strengthened by the Dutch, is still in tolerable repair, and tlie village presents an aspect of industry and comfort. But the country beyond is sterile and repidsive, covered by a stunted growth of umbrella trees and buffalo thorns. The most singular objects in the landscape are a num- ber of the monstrous baobab trees [Adansonia c
. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka. ClIAF. VIL] THE BAOBAB TRRK. 559 Tlie fort at Manaar, built by tlie Portuguese and strengthened by the Dutch, is still in tolerable repair, and tlie village presents an aspect of industry and comfort. But the country beyond is sterile and repidsive, covered by a stunted growth of umbrella trees and buffalo thorns. The most singular objects in the landscape are a num- ber of the monstrous baobab trees [Adansonia cligi- â tnta), Avhose importation from the western coast of Africa to India and Ceylon is a mystery as yet im- solved. The popular conjecture is, that it was the work of the Portuguese; but the age of the trees, as indicated by their prodigious dimensions, is altogether inconsistent with this hypothesiSj^ and their introduc- tion is probably referable to the same early mariners who brought the coffee-tree to Ai'abia, and the cinna- mon laurel to BAOBAB TREES AT MANAAP. The huge and shapeless mass of wood in these sin- gular trees resembles a bidb rather than a stem. One of the largest, at Manaar, measured upwards of thirty feet in circmnference, although it Avas a very httle more in height. No scene in Ceylon presents so dreary an aspect as the long sweep of desolate shore to which, from time immemorial, adventurers have resorted from the ut-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Tennent, James Emerson, Sir, 1804-1869. London : Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts
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Keywords: ., bookauthort, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectsrilanka
