In every age, and in every hot climate, from the healing of the waters of Marah until the present time, some vegetable has been employed to render noxious water palatable. In some parts of Ceylon, especially in the neighborhood of the coast, where the laud is flat and sandy, the water is always brackish, even during the rainy season, and in the dry months it is undrinkable. The natives then make use of a berry for cleansing it and precipitating the impurities. I know the shrub and the berry well; but it has no English denomination, (qy. Strychnos potatorum!) The berries are about the size of a very large pea, and grow in clusters of from ten to fifteen together, and one berry ie said to be sufficient to cleanse a gallon of water. The method of using them is curious, although simple. The vessel which is intended to contain the water, which is generally an earthen chatty, is well rubbed on the inside with a berry, until the latter, which is of a homy consistence, like vegetable ivory, is completely worn away. The chatty is then filled with the muddy water, and allowed to stand for about an hour or more, until all the impurities have precipitated to the bottom, and the water remains clear.

I have constantly used this berry; but I certainly cannot say that the water has ever been rendered perfectly clear. It has been vastly improved, and what was totally undrinkable before has been rendered fit for use; but it has, at the best, been only comparatively good: and although the berry has produced a decided effect, the native accounts of its properties are greatly exaggerated. - Baker's Ceylon.