Their plan was simple enough.
A man with cakes to sell appeared at the house at an early hour,
and these being purchased, he retired until about two hours after
breakfast was concluded. By this time the whole family were
insensible, and the thieves robbed the house at their leisure.
None of these cases terminated fatally; but, from the instant
that I heard of it, I made every cake-seller who appeared at the
door devour one of his own cakes before I became a purchaser.
These men, however, were bona fide cake-merchants, and I did not
meet with an exception.
There are a great variety of valuable medicinal plants in the
jungles of Ceylon, many of which are unknown to any but the
native doctors. Those most commonly known to us, and which may
be seen growing wild by the roadside, are the nux vomica,
ipecacuanha, gamboge, sarsaparilla, cassia fistula, cardamoms,
etc.
The ipecacuanha is a pretty, delicate plant, which bears a bright
orange-colored cluster of flowers.
The cassia fistula is a very beautiful tree, growing to the size
of an ash, which it somewhat resembles in foliage. The blossom
is very beautiful, being a pendant of golden flowers similar to
the laburnum, but each blossom is about two and a half feet long,
and the individual flowers on the bunch are large in proportion.
When the tree is in full flower it is very superb, and equally as
singular when its beauty has faded and the seed-pods are formed.
