Hot manioc cakes are the common every-day accompaniment to a French planter's breakfast at Mauritius, and through the medium of these the Chinese robbed several houses.
Their plan was simple enough.
A man with cakes to sell appeared at the house at an early hour, and these being purchased, he retired until about two hours after breakfast was concluded.

By this time the whole family were insensible, and the thieves robbed the house at their leisure.

None of these cases terminated fatally; but, from the instant that I heard of it, I made every cake-seller who appeared at the door devour one of his own cakes before I became a purchaser.

These men, however, were bona fide cake-merchants, and I did not meet with an exception.
There are a great variety of valuable medicinal plants in the jungles of Ceylon, many of which are unknown to any but the native doctors.
Those most commonly known to us, and which may be seen growing wild by the roadside, are the nux vomica, ipecacuanha, gamboge, sarsaparilla, cassia fistula, cardamoms, etc.
The ipecacuanha is a pretty, delicate plant, which bears a bright orange-colored cluster of flowers.
The cassia fistula is a very beautiful tree, growing to the size of an ash, which it somewhat resembles in foliage.

The blossom is very beautiful, being a pendant of golden flowers similar to the laburnum, but each blossom is about two and a half feet long, and the individual flowers on the bunch are large in proportion.