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Scientific Memoirs by

uninhabited islands, as well as the inhabited. On the other hand, if man did not
settle on the archipelago on account of its coco-nut trees, it is difficult to conceive
what he went there for at all. The surface is not adequate nor are the conditions
favourable for cereal cultivation; and fishing is exactly the occupation that may
be said to be neglected by the Laccadive Islanders. It is true that they may not
always have neglected their opportunities of fishing; but the fact that in islands
where they are well-to-do the inhabitants now-a-days do not fish, taken in con-
junction with the evidence derived from the facts of coco-nut distribution else-
where, makes it almost certain that the coco-nut has reached the Laccadives in-
dependently of man's agency. Of the 17 cultivated species then, man has cer-
tainly introduced 15, and probably 16. But these do not exhaust the number
of species intentionally introduced. Three others:—

Banyan,

Ixora coccinea,

Clitoria Ternatea.

are not only under cultivation at present, but cannot have their presence
well explained except by assuming that they have been intentionally introduced.
The Banyan is not, it is true, a very favourite tree with Musalmans; still, there is
a certain amount of sentiment in connection with it which even the good
Musalman does not readily overcome, and which must be unusually strong in a
Sub-Hindoo Musalman population, like that of the Laccadives. The Ixora
grows at the edges of the small patches of cultivation; and, though it may have
been introduced only on account of its ornamental flowers, it must be borne in
mind that many natives of India ascribe, and probably with justice, valuable
anti-dysenteric qualities to the bark of its roots. It should be noticed too that
the Laccadive plant is not Ixora coccinea proper, but a form of the species
which Dr. Roxburgh considered specifically distinct, and to which he gave
the name I. Bandhuca, and it is to this form that medicinal virtues are especially
attributed. The Clitoria is a very favourite creeper in all Indian gardens, and is
perhaps grown by the islanders only on account of the beauty of its flowers; it
has, however, a reputation for the cathartic properties of its roots and of its
seeds, those of the former being the more powerful.

     Besides the castor-oil plant, however, there are 16 other species that it is
possible the islanders may have introduced intentionally. These are:—

       The Poon-spar tree (Calophyllum).

       The Portia tree (Thespesia).

       Mucuna capitata.

       Cæsalpinia Bonducella.

       Morinda citrifolia.

       Plumbago zeylanica.

       Calotropis gigantea.

       Cynanchum alatum.

       Tylophora asthmatica.

       I pomœa grandifiora.

       Datura fastuosa.

       Stachytarpheta indica.

       Premna integrifolia.

       Gloriosa superba.

       Pandanus odoratissimus.

       Cynodon Dactylon (?)