The mode of preparation, after cutting into strips of the length and width required, is simply to soak them for a short time in boiling water, after which they are rubbed backwards and forwards over a smooth piece of wood to make them pliable, and then carefully dried. The letters or characters being written or rather engraved thereon with an iron style, which, piercing the outside covering, makes indelible letters; and by afterwards rubbing the writing over with some dark coloured substance, such as soot or charcoal, the parts etched or scratched, have greater relief imparted to them: and the writing is more easily read. Notwithstanding many paper mills have been erected in India, the natives, I understand, frequently prefer this method, not only for the ordinary purposes of correspondence and accounts, but even in some quarters for government documents of importance. I must here express my sense of the kind assistance which has on several occasions been afforded me by the Rev. Benjamin Bailey, late of Cottyam, Allepie, Madras, who has not only given to the world a translation in Malayalim of the entire Bible, but has also compiled two voluminous dictionaries, for rendering assistance in the study of that language. This gentleman has recently afforded me an opportunity of inspecting many great curiosities of the kind: indeed, before me is now lying a very neat little specimen written in Malayalim by him (St. Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy), which shows, in a remarkable degree, the astonishing distinctness which may be produced by this singular mode of writing. The style with which the letters are engraven upon the leaf is usually worn in the girdle as a prominent ornament of dress. The case which protects it containing also a small knife, employed in preparing the slips, and likewise a little instrument which is used for piercing the leaves, in order that cords may be passed through them for the purpose of securing the manuscript, as may be seen in the instance of various documents both in the East India Company’s Museum, and also in the Library of the British Museum. A work which I possess, termed the _Kammavakyam_, written in the Pali language, in Burmese character, upon palm leaf, is thus secured between very handsome covers. It is a Catechism of Sacred Rites, used by the Buddhist priesthood in the examination of a candidate for admission to that order. A translation of it here, however, would be no more consistent in point of matter contained, than it would be in reference to the subject I am treating. Its character and language throughout are truly humiliating to human nature.