Its density is so great (nearly 60 lbs.

to a cubic foot) that it takes an exquisite polish, and is in every way adapted for the manufacture of furniture, in the ornamenting of which the native carpenters excel.

The chiefs and headmen, with a full appreciation of its beauty, take particular pride in possessing specimens of this beautiful wood, roots of which they regard as most acceptable gifts.
Notwithstanding its value, the tree is nearly eradicated, and runs some risk of becoming extinct in the island; but, as it is not peculiar to Ceylon, it may be restored by fresh importations from the south-eastern coast of India, of which it is equally a native, and I apprehend that the name, _Calamander_, which was used by the Dutch, is but a corruption of "Coromandel." Another species of cabinet wood is produced from the Nedun[1], a large tree common on the western coast; it belongs to the Pea tribe, and is allied to the Sisso of India.

Its wood, which is lighter than the "Blackwood" of Bombay, is used for similar purposes.
[Footnote 1: Dalbergia lanceolaria.] The Tamarind tree[1], and especially its fine roots, produce a variegated cabinet wood of much beauty, but of such extreme hardness as scarcely to be workable by any ordinary tool.[2] [Footnote 1: Tamarindus Indica.] [Footnote 2: The natives of Western India have a belief that the shade of the tamarind tree is unhealthy, if not poisonous.

But in Ceylon it is an object of the people, especially in the north of the island, to build their houses under it, from the conviction that of all trees its _shade is the coolest_.