Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/79

Rh drive away evil spirits; the natives hang them up in their rooms as we hang up old horseshoes.

The neem is like the ash, without its freedom of growth. It is planted near native houses as a preservative of health, as well as a warning to devils to keep their distance. The word 'margosa' is Portuguese for 'bitter.' The oil that is pressed from its olive-shaped seeds is exceedingly bitter and has a strong scent of garlic. The warm climate of the Tropics encourages insect life, and the natives anoint themselves with the oil as a protection; the smell is so abominable that Europeans prefer the insects.

There are several other trees that are pleasant to look at as the carriage rolls smoothly over the level roads of red laterite. Near the sea the portia tree (Thespesia populnea) lifts its tulip blossoms into the sunlight. The foliage is a bright green, and the flowers are of a primrose tint with deep madder blotches in the centre. They open and drop quickly without giving the dust time to settle upon their creamy petals. The place to see the portia in perfection is moist, humid Colombo, where the fiery blasts of the land-winds are not felt.

The most graceful of all Eastern trees is the palm the sea-loving cocoanut palm. Its slender stems are thrown up in artistic sweeps towards the sky, no two making the same curve, and its crown of foliage spreads out into a bouquet of fronds, arranged by nature with a skill that exceeds the cunning of the human hand. When the sun has set and night is approaching the fire-flies swarm out and carry their scintillating lamps to their playground among the fronds.

Madras is well said to be 'a city of magnificent distances.' Not only are the roads long, but the private drives up to the houses are a considerable length. The Mowbray Road, running parallel with the old Mount Road,