ten persons at table.

All the books of importance in Pali and Cingalese, relative to the
religion of Buddhoo, in Ceylon, are written on lamina of these leaves,
with either a brass or an iron style. There are some of these books in
Sir A. Johnston's collections, which are supposed to be from 500 to 600
years old, and which are still very perfect. In the museum of the
Asiatic Society, there is a complete copy of the Pali book, called the
_Pansyapanas Iatakah_, written on 1,172 laminae of the finest
description of this sort of palm leaf. Large as the dimensions of the
talipot leaf may appear, it is exceeded in size by the _troolie_ of
Surinam, which extends on the ground, and has frequently been known to
attain the width of three feet, and the length of thirty.

Our Engraving is copied from the _Gardener's Magazine_, where it is
reduced from the Transactions of the Asiatic Society.



THE DEATHWATCH MAGNIFIED.

Although the present may be a late hour to dissipate the faith placed in
signs and tokens, we are persuaded that a more intimate knowledge of
this insect will not prove uninteresting to our readers.[3]

The name _death watch_ was evidently derived from the importance
attached to the beatings of the insect, which, by superstitious people,
were formerly supposed to prognosticate death to some one of the family
in whose house it was heard. The natural size of the insect is about a
quarter of an inch in length, of a dark brown colour, spotted, with