Species worthy of note, either on account of their beauty, their various uses, or formidable poisonous properties, and belonging to widely-differing families, abound, moreover, in these perennial forests. Ceylon, which has justly been named by the Orientals "a pearl detached from Hindostan," so admirable is its situation, so marvellous is its fertility, so exhaustless its mineral wealth, is the native country of the _Laurus cinnamomum_--which was early transplanted to the neighbouring continent--and of the Artocarpus, or Bread-fruit tree, one of the most curious and most useful plants of this region. [Illustration: BREAD-FRUIT TREE OF CEYLON (_Artocarpus incisa_).] The Bread-fruit Tree (_Artocarpus incisa_) is a tree of the family _Muriaceæ_, some 45 to 55 feet high. Make an incision in its bark, wherever you will, and it exudes a white lacteal fluid, which hardens on exposure to the air. Its branches are very numerous, and those nearest its base attain a considerable length. Its leaves are large, consistent, and somewhat deeply cut. It owes its name of "Bread-fruit tree" to its ovoid or rounded fruit, about the size of an ostrich's egg, which forms the staple food of the Cingalese. When fully ripe, the pulp or flesh is white, firm, farinaceous, and very agreeable to the taste. The natives boil it whole, or cut it into slices for roasting, and prepare it for the table in numerous other modes. Two or three trees, it is said, suffice for the provisioning of one man. My readers will remember that its introduction in the West Indian Islands was signalized by the famous Mutiny of the Bounty, and led indirectly to the settlement of Pitcairn's Island; thus originating a strange and sufficiently poetical romance. In the forests of Ceylon also flourish the _Cambogia Guttu_, the _Stalagmites Cambogioides_, and the _Garcinia morella_ (family _Guttiferæ_), whence camboge is extracted. This substance, at once medicinal and tinctorial, exudes in a liquid state from wounds made in the bark of the trees; it solidifies spontaneously in the vessels wherein it is collected.