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POPULAR 
 
 HISTORY OF THE PALMS 
 
 AND THEIR ALLIES, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A FAMILIAR ACCOUNT OP THEIR STRUCTURE, 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION, 
 
 HISTORY, PROPERTIES, AND USES, 
 
 AND A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL THE SPECIES 
 INTEODUCED INTO OUK GAEDENS. 
 
 BY 
 
 BEETHOLD SEEMANN, Ph.D., M.A., P.L.S., 
 
 MEMBEB (BONPLAND) OP THE IMPEEIAL LEOPOLDINO-CABCLINE ACADEMY OF 
 
 NATCBAIilSTS ; ArTHOR OF THE BOTANT AND THE NAEBATITE OF THE 
 
 VOYAGE OF H.M.S. HEKALD, ETC. ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LOVELL REEVE, 5, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1856. 
 
J0H2f BDWABD TATLOR, PHINTEB, 
 LITTLE QCEBX STEBBT, LINCOLN'S I>JN FIELDS. 
 
00 
 
 ir^ 
 
 
 
 TO 
 
 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 
 
 €>. IS DEDICATED 
 
 WITH FEELINGS OF HIGH REGAED AND ESTEEM 
 BY HIS FKIEND AND ADMIEEE, 
 
 BERTHOLD SEEMANN. 
 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 In producing the present little AVork I cannot say that 1 
 have yielded to any urgent solicitations of friends, but I 
 must own that after having made known my resolution to 
 write a Popular History of the Palms and their Allies, I 
 received so much warm encouragement and ready assistance 
 from all sides, that I feel I have undertaken a task in which 
 many aje interested. The late Dr. E. Stocks furnished me 
 with notes on the Palms of Scinde, and other parts of India, 
 with which he was familiar; Professor C. B. Heller, well 
 known as a successful explorer of the South-eastern States 
 of Mexico, drew up an account of the Palms of that region ; 
 Professor Goppert, one of the most accomplished palaeon- 
 tologists of the day, sent the necessary information about 
 
Vlll PREFACE. ^ 
 
 the fossil Palms ; John Miers, Esq., the distinguished tra- 
 veller and botanist, communicated notes on the Palms of 
 Chile and Peru; Dr. Carl Bolle, the indefatigable investi- 
 gator of the Canary Islands, wrote an elaborate treatise on 
 the Palms of that archipelago; Dr. J. D. Hooker, the ta- 
 lented author of the ' Flora Antarctica' and other publica- 
 tions of high repute, readily opened some of the vast 
 treasures of information accumulated during a voyage 
 round the world and scientific journeys in the East Indies; 
 and lastly, though not least, Mr. John Smith, the intelli- 
 gent curator of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and his 
 son, the zealous curator of the Museum of Economic Bo- 
 tany at the same Institution, obligingly gave me the loan of 
 a series of notes, containing extracts from works often not 
 easily accessible, and information obtained from the lips of 
 travellers, such as Purdie and others. I have also to ac- 
 knowledge to the three last-named gentlemen, as well as to 
 Mrs. Hooker, my deep sense of gratitude for assisting in 
 seeing this Work through the press, and eradicating the 
 mistakes and crudities which here and there had crept 
 into the manuscript. Besides these sources of information. 
 
PllEFACE. IX 
 
 my own circumnavigation of the globe in II. M.S. Herald, 
 and travels in tropical countries, put me in possession of 
 numerous facts bearing upon the subject. I have also 
 consulted all the works I could obtain — and this number is 
 nearly two hundred ; but as no attempt has ever been made 
 to collect such information as that contained in the pre- 
 sent publication, this branch of botanical literature is of 
 course very much scattered about, and it would be dishonest 
 to pretend that the Popular History of the Palms, etc., con- 
 tains an account of all that has ever been written on this 
 subject. However, I may safely affirm, without the fear of 
 contradiction, that there is no work in existence, in any 
 language whatever, in which an equal amount of informa- 
 tion, such as here given, is to be met with. 
 
 The quotations from other works, though they may ap- 
 pear between inverted commas, have in most instances been 
 very much condensed; and as there was, as might be ex- 
 pected in information derived from so many different quar- 
 ters, a great diversity in the terms employed, I have en- 
 deavoured to reduce them to uniformity, especially where 
 the rules of modern botanical terminology rendered such a 
 
X PREFACE. ^ 
 
 proceeding imperative. Por instance, the term "leaf ^ has 
 been substituted for "branch" and "frond/' "segment^' 
 for "pinnule^' and "leaflet." Less stringency has been 
 shown with words which did not interfere with those ter- 
 minological laws; that of "kernel," for example, — to the 
 use of which, in strictly scientific works, strong objections 
 must be raised, as it denotes sometimes cotyledons, some- 
 times the albumen, sometimes the whole seed, — has been 
 admitted, as it has a fixed meaning in popular language, 
 and people will always know a kernel when they see one. 
 
 The illustrations have been adopted from the works of 
 Martius, Hooker, "Wallace and others, by M. J. Ch. Frank, 
 to whom great praise is due for the skill shown in reducing 
 them, mostly from large folio plates, to the small size of 
 this volume, without sacrificing their minute characteristic 
 features. 
 
 That I should have been desirous of dedicating this little 
 Work to so great a man as Humboldt, will be found quite 
 natural by those who know that it was Humboldt who 
 more than half a century ago wrote the first popular account 
 of the Palms, and that it was he who, by his glowing de- 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 scriptions of tropical scenery, did more than any one living 
 to encourage that desire for the exploration of equinoctial 
 regions, to which we owe indirectly so much of our know- 
 ledge of these Palms, and directly the elaborate works of 
 Martius, Griffith, Blume, and other Botanists of eminence, 
 more particularly devoted to them. How much Humboldt 
 himself was pleased with the dedication will be evident 
 from the following letter, which in justification of what I 
 have stated cannot be very well withheld : — 
 
 " Berlin, June IS, IShb. 
 " My dear Friend and ' Travelling Companion,'* 
 " Tom- kind letter of the 13th instant has been a source of great 
 pleasure to me. I received it the moment of my return from 
 Potsdam, early this morning, there being no postal delivery on a 
 Sunday at Berlin. As there is only an hour left until the depar- 
 ture of the mail-train, and as you are pleased to long for a speedy 
 answer, I must unfortunately be very brief in expressing my high 
 sense of gratitude for the honour you intend to confer upon me. 
 A dedication from you, dear Seemann, cannot but be extremely 
 agreeable and flattering, and I gladly accept your favour, but on 
 the express condition that you will simply call me your friend, 
 * A playful allusion to my academical name, " Bonpland." — B. S. 
 
Xll PREFACE. # 
 
 and avoid every species of titiilation, which is quite contrary to 
 my way of thinking. . . . Your Work vi^ill, I am convinced, go 
 through several editions ; it begins in a jovial strain, but never 
 oversteps, according to my opinion, the boundaries of good taste : 
 it may be called popular, because, without supposing the reader 
 to be possessed of any great botanical knowledge, it supplies him 
 with an agreeable literary recreation. The * low connections ' 
 (p. 12) with the plebeian Grasses have not proved a serious disad- 
 vantage to your patrician, aristocratic Palms. ... I have read 
 line for line of the sheets you sent, and as a proof thereof note 
 two unfortunate misprints, which I discovered at page 33 and 34. 
 The first is MoricJieles, instead of Moricliales, The terminations 
 indicative of forests ( Waldendigungeii) form themselves in Spanish 
 always in ' al ' or * ar ;' thus, Pino, Pinal or Piuar (Pine-forest) ; 
 Olivo, Olivar (Olive-forest) ; Roble, Eobledar (Oak- forest). The 
 second misprint is Cauca and Ej^enato^ instead of Caura and 
 Ei'evato. Of the Caura, which flows into the Erevato, I have 
 published a special chart. Caura, again, is a tributary of the 
 Orinoco, whilst Cauca is a tributary of the Magdalena. You 
 will perceive from this that I have carefully perused your in- 
 structive pages. The description of the great Palm-house at 
 Kew, and especially the paragraphs which immediately succeed 
 that, have pleased me very much indeed. Pray do not omit to 
 mention the surprise travellers experience when beholding for the 
 
PllEFACE. • XIU 
 
 first time European forms {Finns for instance) growing together 
 with tropical ones (Palms, etc.) in the same forest, as is the case 
 at Cliilpanzingo, on the western declivity of the Mexican table- 
 land, or in that, on account of its mahogany, frequented Isle of 
 Pines, south of Cuba. Peter Martyr (Angheria) states on the 
 authority of one of Columbus's letters that Pineta and Palmite 
 grew there together. The Conquistadores noticed a coniferous 
 plant with fruit resembling Olives {parezen azeytimos del Azarate 
 de Sevilla), which I take to be a species of the genus Podocarpus. 
 As your Work will be much read, you must not forget to dwell 
 upon the oppositum of the numerous littoral plants, — the little- 
 known, small group of mountainous or alpine Palms {Ceroxylon 
 Andicola^ Oreodoxa frigida, and Kunthia montana). Ceroxylon 
 Andicola I found in the cordillera of the Pass of Quindiu, be- 
 tween Ibague and Cartago, not lower on the declivity than 
 7930, not higher than 9700 English feet (you could say be- 
 tween 7900 and 9700 feet), in company of Podocarpus-trees and 
 Quermis Granatensis. 
 
 " I am, etc., 
 
 "Alexander von Humboldt." 
 
 I shall offer no apology for the numerous imperfections 
 which, notwithstanding all the advantages I have enjoyed, 
 may still appear in these pages. Those who have been en- 
 
XIV PREFACE. • 
 
 gaged in similar compositions will, I am sure, if they should 
 happen to be among the number of my critics, deal leniently 
 with me ; whilst those who have not, will please to bear in 
 mind that my '^History of Palms" is not a purely literary 
 production, but a scientific work, which, to meet the views 
 of my publisher, has assumed a popular garb, in which 
 mere literary considerations have been made subordinate to 
 scientific accuracy. 
 
 BERTHOLD SEEMANN. 
 
 Jjondou, December Wi, 1855. 
 
LIST or PLATES. 
 
 Plate I Frontispiece. 
 
 1 The Great Palm-House at 
 the Eo3al Gavdens, Kew. 
 
 Plate II to face p. 30 
 
 1 Acrocomia Mexicana. 
 
 2 Chamaedorea Schiedeaua. 
 
 Plate III 44 
 
 1 Areca Catechu. 
 
 Plate IV 60 
 
 1 Ai'enga saccharifera. 
 
 2 Nipa fruticans. 
 
 Plate V 74 
 
 1 Borassus flabelliformis. 
 
 2 Corypha umbraculifera. 
 
 Plate YI to face p. 90 
 
 I Chamserops humilis. 
 
 Plate YII 104 
 
 1 Cocos nucifera. 
 
 Plate YIII 120 
 
 I Copernicia cerifera. 
 
 Plate IX 134 
 
 1 Elseis melanococca. 
 
 2 Iriartea exoiThiza. 
 
 Plate X 150 
 
 1 Gulielma speciosa. 
 
 Plate XI 164 
 
 1 Hypheene Thebaica. 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 Plate XII. . .. to face p. 180 
 1 Iriartea ventricosa. 
 
 Plate XIII 194 
 
 1 Lodoicea Secliellarum. 
 
 Plate XIV 210 
 
 1 Mauritia vinifera. 
 
 Plate XY 224 
 
 1 Metroxylon Eumphii. 
 
 2 Sagiis elata. 
 
 Plate XYI 240 
 
 1 Oreodoxa oleracea. 
 
 Plate XVII. .. to face p. 1^'^ 
 
 1 Oreodoxa oleracea. 
 
 2 Thrinax multiflora. 
 
 Plate XVIII 270 
 
 1 Phoenix dactylifera. 
 
 Plate XIX 284 
 
 1 Pliytelephas macrocarpa. 
 
 Plate XX : 301 
 
 1 Thrinax argentea. 
 
POPULAR HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PALMS AND THEIR ALLIES. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 My first acquaintance with the Palms was not in the great 
 conservatories of Europe, nor in the virgin forests of tropical 
 America or Asia, where I had afterwards an opportunity of 
 studying them, but in a dusty schoolroom of my native town. 
 Acquaintance with them was, I may say, not sought by me ; 
 but, as the reader will presently see, quite forced upon me. 
 Our schoolmaster, having to keep in order about fifty unruly 
 boys, had always a number of canes, the excellence of Avhich 
 we had an opportunity of testing whenever we had been 
 guilty of a misdemeanor. Deeming our master's possession 
 of these light, flexible sticks, with their yellowish polish, a 
 circumstance not very conducive to our comfort, we seized 
 
 B 
 
POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS» 
 
 upon them whenever a fair chance presented itself. Hav- 
 ing once laid hands upon them, they were, on the advice of 
 some of the elder boys, cut into pieces about as long as 
 cigars, lighted at one end, and thus used for practising 
 smoking, so as to be perfect in that habit whenever the 
 increased allowance of our pocket-money should admit of 
 investing the requisite sum in the purchase of real cigars, 
 genuine pipes, and unadulterated tobacco! Thus we succeed- 
 ed in converting instruments peculiarly hateful to us into a 
 great source of amusement ; for such, I fear, I must call it. 
 However, all our endeavours to exhaust the stock of our 
 master were as ineffectual as if we had attempted to fill the 
 leaky vessel of the Danaids. The supply was quite equal 
 to the demand ; and lo ! to prove to us the utter useless- 
 ness of our illegal proceedings, we had one day, on leaving 
 school, the satisfaction of seeing a whole waggon-load of 
 those abominable canes entering the town. Some of us 
 followed this interesting vehicle to the very door of the 
 house in which the cargo was to be stored ; and one of our 
 number, bolder than the rest, actually ventured so far as 
 to ask the person who took charge of it whence the sticks 
 came, and what trees produced them, questions which drew 
 forth the reply, that they had been sent from far across the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 sea, an5 that they were the shoots of a species of Palm. 
 This information had a most melancholy effect when re- 
 peated to our other school-fellows. Up to that moment, we 
 had been labouring under the belief that the canes were the 
 branches of some willows of our own county, and that, if 
 we could only discover the place where they grew, we could ^ 
 easily destroy them, and thus free ourselves for ever from 
 the tyranny of the magisterial sceptres. Even now, after 
 their true source had been pointed out to us, those who had 
 most strongly advocated the willow theory still clung to it; 
 and as the point was one of vital importance to all, we de- 
 termined to consult some book on the subject, so as to set 
 our minds at rest. After a great deal of searching in the 
 limited library at our disposal, we found in some encyclo- 
 paedia a passage which, alas ! confirmed the statement of the 
 storekeeper. It informed us that the canes in question were 
 slender stems of an East Indian Palm, belonging to the 
 genus Calamus, and used for making bottoms of chairs, 
 walking-sticks, etc. "Another species of this interesting 
 genus'' (very interesting, we thought), continued the book, 
 "yields the famous ^Malacca canes' so much used in Eu- 
 rope." There was no appeal from such authority ; and we, 
 entertaining no longer any doubt about the true source 
 
4 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 of our master's sticks, relinquished every hope of cutting off 
 his inexhaustible supplies. 
 
 It was thus that my attention was first directed to that na- 
 tural order of plants, the Palms, one of the largest, the most 
 beautiful, as well as the most useful, of the whole Yege- 
 table Kingdom. It was rather an odd introduction; but I 
 daresay, if every one of my readers Avould only ask himself 
 where and how he first came in contact with those plants of 
 which the present work treats, narratives even more strange 
 than tlie one related would probably be brought to light. 
 Palms, indeed, supply so many of our wants, and administer 
 so largely to our comforts, that those fully impressed with 
 this grand trutli, may well wonder how the human race can 
 inhabit any parts of the globe whence they are excluded. 
 It was therefore not merely a rhetorical figure when Lin- 
 naeus, full of admiration for this noble tribe of plants, ex- 
 claimed — '^Man dwells naturally within the tropics, and 
 lives on the fruit of the Palm-tree; he exists in other parts 
 of the world, and there makes shift to feed on corn and 
 flesh/' Take, for instance, a walk in the streets of London, 
 and observe everywhere how substances originally obtained 
 from Palms, and turned to useful purposes, meet your eye. 
 That ragged boy, sweeping the crossing, and begging you 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 with a faltering voice, real or assumed, to ' remember poor 
 Jack/ holds in his hands a broom, the fibrous substance of 
 which was cut by the wild Indians of Brazil from the stems 
 of a Palm ; that gentleman, dressed in the tiptop of fashion, 
 who play fully swings his 'Penang lawyer,' Httle thinks that, 
 in carrying that walking- cane, he is in fact carrying a young 
 plant of the Liciiala acidifida; that fine lad/s parasol-knob 
 — what is it but a Coquilla-nut turned into that shape? 
 Continue your walk, and you will find still more, worthy of 
 notice in a Popular History of the Palms. Those " chip 
 hats" so extensively worn on fine summer days, what are 
 they made of? — the leaves of a Cuban palm {Thrinax ar- 
 gented). Look at that stand, with heaps of dates upon it, 
 gathered on the borders of the great Desert of Sahara, and 
 eagerly purchased by the people ; look at those fine cocoa- 
 nuts, grown on the shores of the Indian Ocean and the 
 Caribbean Sea, and here retailed in penny slices to the 
 humbler inhabitants of the British metropolis. Step into a 
 house, and there too will you observe many products ob- 
 tained from Palms in the most remote corners of the globe. 
 That thick brownish matting, now so generally used for co- 
 vering halls, staircases, and offices, is woven from the husk 
 [mesocarpium) surrounding the cocoa-nut. Those beautiful 
 
6 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS> 
 
 pieces of furniture, which arrest your attention, are made of 
 various kinds of palm wood. That elegant little plaything 
 you see in the hands of yonder child, was skilfully manu- 
 factured of the bone-like kernels [alhiimeii) of the Vegetable 
 Ivory Palm. Those fine stearic candles illumining the room 
 — what are they composed of but the fatty substance ex- 
 tracted from the fruit of the Oil Palm and the Cocoa-nut ? 
 That sago, which, under various disguises, appears at the 
 dinner-table, it also is the produce, the pith, of Palms 
 flourishing in the islands of the East Indian Archipelago. 
 That arrack, pronounced by connoisseurs to be of excellent 
 quality, it too is extracted from a Palm, — the Cocoa-nut. 
 Be still more inquisitive, and ask of what that tooth-powder, 
 so extensively applied, consists, and you will be told that 
 its chief ingredients are Betel-nuts, previously reduced to 
 charcoal, and dragon's blood, — both produced by palms ; or 
 examine our toilet soap, and you will find that the fatty 
 substance, which enters so largely into the composition 
 of it, has been derived from Palms. Everywhere you will 
 meet numerous products of Palms, either in a raw state, or 
 turned by the ingenuity of man to some useful purpose; 
 and this too at a place thousands of miles from those re- 
 gions which Palms principally acknowledge as their native 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 country. Even at sucli a distance, their benign influence is 
 strongly felt ; and millions of people, whose privilege it has 
 never been to obtain even a glimpse of a single Palm, en- 
 tertain feelings of well-founded gratitude towards an order 
 of plants which is to them a source of so much usefulness 
 and enjoyment. 
 
 ^But if such is the case in a city like London, and in a 
 country like England, where few Palms ever grow except 
 within the walls of a well-managed conservatory, and under 
 the careful treatment of a judicious gardener, it is much 
 more so the case in regions like those of tropical Asia, Africa, 
 America, and Australia, where these elegant members of the 
 Yegetable Kingdom flourish in all their native splendour, 
 where the inhabitants derive nearly every necessary of life 
 from them, and where almost every action of a man^s daily 
 occupation comes more or less in contact with them ; asso- 
 ciating them so closely with the traditions, the history, and 
 the destiny of the countries in which they have taken up 
 their abode, that it is quite impossible to treat of their reli- 
 gious, social, or political condition, without mentioning in a 
 greater or lesser degree the Palms, — those splendid ofi'spring 
 of Tellus and Phoebus. To illustrate this more clearly, let 
 us change the scene we behold on the banks of the Thames 
 
8 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 for one of those on the Eio Negro^ the great tributary of 
 the Amazon. The background is a thick virgin forest, the 
 wild domain of tiger-cats, tapirs, monkeys, and snakes ; huge 
 trees are densely crowded together; orchids, pepperworts, 
 ferns, and other epiphytical plants cover their trunks; creepers 
 are luxuriantly growing among them, here forming elegant 
 festoons, there hanging slovenly, like ropes of a ship out of 
 trim : all is teeming with vegetation. The foreground is an 
 open spot with a few Indian huts and some isolated Palms, 
 the dark green foliage of which, gracefully waving in the 
 morning air, forms bold outlines, agreeably contrasting with 
 the dark blue of the sky; a group of merry boys, almost 
 entirely in the simple garb of nature, are playing around 
 them, practising their bows and arrows, and reminding one 
 of a petty army of young Cupids preparing for a conquering 
 expedition. 
 
 A comparison of the scene with that we beheld in London 
 is sufficient to create an interest for it. To learn more of 
 an Indian's life becomes a prominent wish, and to visit one 
 of these huts an irresistible desire. Let us enter then, guided 
 by that enterprising traveller Mr. Wallace, one of those be- 
 fore us ; the inmate is friendly disposed ; he will make some 
 allowance for our curiosity, and permits us to examine the 
 
INTKODUCTION. 
 
 various articles which arrest our attention. The main sup- 
 ports of the building are stems of some forest-tree of heavy 
 and durable wood, but the light rafters overhead are formed 
 by the straight, cylindrical and uniform trunks of the Jara 
 Palm [Leojjoldinia pulchra). The roof is thatched with 
 large triangular leaves, arranged in regular alternate rows, 
 and bound to the rafters with sipos, or creepers ; the leaves 
 are those of the Carana Palm {Manritia Carana). The door 
 of the house, a framework of thin hard strips of wood neatly 
 thatched over, is made of the split stems of the Pashiuba 
 Palm {Iriartea exorrliiza). In one corner stands a heavy 
 harpoon, for catching the cow-fish ; it is formed of the black 
 wood of the Pashiuba barriguda [Iriartea ventricosa). By 
 the side of it is a blowpipe, from ten to twelve feet long, and 
 a little quiver full of small poisoned arrows, for procuring 
 birds for food or for their gaily-coloured feathers, or even 
 bringing down the wild hog or tapir ; and it is from the stem 
 and nerves of the petiole of two species of Palms that they 
 are made. The great bassoon-like musical instruments, the 
 Indian has made of palm-stems; the cloth in which he wraps 
 his most valued feather ornaments is a fibrous palm-spathe ; 
 and the rude chest in which he keeps his treasures is woven 
 from palm-leaves. His hammock, his bowstrings, and his 
 
 •x- 
 
10 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 fishing-line are obtained from the fibres of different palm- 
 leaves. The comb which he wears on his head, is inge- 
 niously constructed of the hard wood of a Palm ; and he 
 makes fish-hooks of the spines, or uses them to puncture on 
 his skin the peculiar markings of his tribe. His children 
 are eating the agreeable red and yellow fruit of the Pupunha 
 or Peach Palm [Guilielma speciosa), and from that of the 
 Assai [Euterpe edulis) he has prepared a favourite drink, 
 which he offers to his guests. That carefully-suspended 
 gourd contains oil, which is the produce of the fruit of an- 
 other species; and that long elastic plaited cylinder, used 
 for squeezing dry the mandiocca pulp, extracted from the 
 root of a shrubby Euphorbiaceous plant, the ManiJiot uti- 
 lissima, is made of the trunk of one of the singular climb- 
 ing Palms, which resists for a considerable time the action 
 of the poisonous juice it comes in contact with. 
 
 The curtain may be allowed to drop for a moment on this 
 view of Indian life. Enough has already been shown to in- 
 spire the reader, if not as yet with love, at least with respect, 
 for a tribe of plants which constitutes so important an ele- 
 ment in the social life of both the most civilized nations 
 and the rudest savages. To make him still more favourably 
 disposed towards Palms, I will give a general description of 
 
INTRODUCTION. II 
 
 them ; add a summary of their geological and geographi- 
 cal distribution, and a brief notice of their cultivation in 
 northern Europe; and then enumerate the most prominent 
 species, with detailed accounts of their aspect^ structure, 
 history, and uses. 
 
 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE PALMS. 
 
 Palms have been termed "the Princes of the Yegetable 
 Kingdom." This title, however poetical to some minds, is 
 so far objectionable, as it may possibly lead those consi- 
 dering things in the abstract to the erroneous supposition 
 that the Palms, like the chiefs of states, to whom they are 
 thus compared, are placed pre-eminently at the head of the 
 world of plants; wliilst, on the contrary, notwithstanding 
 their beauty and usefulness, they occupy but a subordinate 
 position in that classification of organized beings known as 
 the Natural System of Botany. They belong, systematically 
 speaking, to the Enclogens or MonocQiyledons, the same 
 great division which comprises the Grasses, Sedges, Lilies, 
 Orchids, and Screwpines, and which stands about interme- 
 diate between the highest and lowest orders of the Yege- 
 
12 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. # 
 
 table Kingdom. But the metaphor holds good in another 
 sense : Palms may be said to be as exclusive as princes, 
 forming close alliances amongst themselves, and acknow- 
 ledging no immediate relationship with any of the nume- 
 rous families of the great natural division amongst which 
 they are classed. They seem to glory in isolation, proudly 
 waving their graceful foliage amongst those with whom 
 they are thrown together. Yet, as is often the case in 
 every-day life, they have, like many noble familes, low con- 
 nections and poor relations. In their external structure, as 
 well as in their internal organization, they approach nearest 
 to the Grasses ; plants which the same authority (LinuEeus) 
 who conferred upon Palms the dignity of princes, termed 
 " the Plebeians." This relationship will probably be thought 
 rather distant by those who, from want of other materials, 
 compare the meadow-grasses of the temperate zones with 
 the cocoa-nut trees of the tropics ; but it will become more 
 apparent when the huge Bamboo, as the representative of 
 the Grasses, is placed by the side of some small Rattan, 
 as that of the Palms. Indeed Nees von Esenbeck, one of 
 the best systematic botanists of the present day, considers 
 Grasses to be a sort of Palms of a lower grade ; and he is 
 not singular in that opinion. In habit, especially in the in- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 staDce cited, the two Orders have much in common : their 
 leaves are formed upon exactly the same plan, the only dif- 
 ference being that those of the Palms are generally (not 
 always) divided, and even the silicious secretions, so cha- 
 racteristic of Grasses, are observable in Eattans ; whilst, 
 about their flowers, it may be said that those of the Grasses 
 are those of the Palms, with the floral envelopes removed 
 and only the bracts remaining. 
 
 Palms'^ are perennial and woody plants ; they are never 
 
 * The structure of the Palm has been well explained by various authors, 
 and is generally looked upon as typical of that of Endogens in general. In 
 tlie language of Lindley (Vegetable Kingdom, p. 95) it is as follows : — 
 " In the beginning, the embryo of a Palm consists of a cellular mass of a 
 cylindrical form, very small and not at all divided. As soon as germination 
 commences, a certain number of cords of ligneous fibre begin to appear in the 
 radicle, deriving their origin from the plumule. Shortly afterwards, as soon 
 as the rudimentary leaves of the plumule begin to lengthen, spiral and dotted 
 vessels appear in the tissue in connection ^^dth the ligneous cords ; the latter 
 increase in quantity as the plant advances in growth, shooting througb the 
 cellular tissue, and keeping parallel with the outside of the root. At the same 
 time, the cellular tissue increases in diameter to make room for the ligneous 
 cords (or woody bundles, as they are also called) . At last a young leaf is de- 
 veloped, with a considerable number of such cords in connection ^^^th its base; 
 and, as its base passes aU round the plumule, these cords are consequently 
 connected equally with the centre which that base surrounds. Within this a 
 second leaf gradually unfolds, the cellular tissue increasing horizontally at the 
 same time ; the ligneous cords, however, soon cease to maintain anything 
 
14 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS^ 
 
 annual and herbaceous. Most of them attain the size and 
 assume the aspect of trees ; a considerable number however 
 remain shrubby^ and some even have quite the appearance, 
 but nothing save the appearance, of perennial herbs. The 
 
 like a parallel direction, but form arcs, the extremities of which pass upwards 
 and downwards, losing their extremities in the leaf on the one hand, and on 
 the other in the roots, or in the cellular integument on the outside of the 
 first circle of cords ; at the same time the second leaf pushes the first leaf a 
 little from the centre towards the circumference of the cone of growth. In this 
 manner leaf after leaf is developed, the horizontal cellular system enlarging all 
 the time, and every successive leaf, as it forms at the growing point, emitting 
 more woody bundles, curviug downwards and outwards, and consequently in- 
 tersecting the older arcs at some place or other ; the result of which is that 
 the first formed leaf will have the upper end of the arcs which belong to it 
 longest and much stretched outwardly, while the youngest will have the arcs 
 the straightest ; and the appearance j)roduced in the stem will be that of a 
 confused entanglement of woody bundles in the midst of a quantity of cellular 
 tissue. As the stem extends its cellular tissue longitudinally while this is 
 going on, the woody arcs are consequently in proportion long, and in fact 
 usually appear to the eye as if almost parallel, excepting here and there, where 
 two arcs intersect each other. As in all cases the greater number of arcs 
 curve outwards as they descend, and eventually break up their ends into a 
 multitude of fine divisions next the circumference, where they assist in form- 
 ing a cortical integument, it will follow that the greater part of the woody 
 matter of the stem wUl be collected near the circumference, while the centre, 
 which is comparatively open, will consist ^chiefly of cellular tissue ; and when, 
 as in many Palms, the stem has a limited circumference, beyond which it is 
 its specific nature not to distend, the density of the circumference must, it is 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 various modifications of the trunk, or stem, determine this 
 part of their habit ; for, while the trunk of some species 
 hardly shows itself aboveground, it attains in others the 
 length of 500 feet; while in some it seems to have no 
 
 obvious, be proportionately augmented. It is bonvever a mistake to suppose 
 that the great hardness of the circumference of old Palm -wood is owing 
 merely to the presence of augmenting matter upon a fixed circumference ; 
 this will account but little for the phenomenon. We find that the woody 
 bundles next the circumference are larger and harder than they originally 
 were, and consequently we must suppose that they have the power of in- 
 creasing their own diameter subsequent to their first formation, and they also 
 act as reservoirs of secretions of a hard and solid nature, after the manner of 
 the heart-wood of Exogens. "When the growth of the stem goes on in this 
 regular manner, with no power of extending hoi'izontally beyond a specific 
 limited diameter, a trunk is formed, the sections of which present a singular 
 appearance. There is a number of curved spots crowded together in a con- 
 fused way, most thick and numerous at the circumference, comparatively 
 small and thinly placed at the centre ; and the only regular structure that is 
 observable with the naked eye is that the curves always present their convexity 
 to the circumference. Never is there any distinct column of pith, or medul- 
 lary rays, or concentric arrangement of the woody arcs ; nor does the cortical 
 integument of the surface of the stems assume the character of bark, separat- 
 ing from the wood below it ; on the contrary, as the cortical integument con- 
 sists very much of the finely-divided extremities of the woody arcs, they ne- 
 cessarily hold it fast to the wood, of which they are themselves prolongations; 
 and the cortical integument can only be stripped off by tearing it away from 
 the whole surface of the wood, from which it does not separate without leav- 
 ing myriads of little broken threads behind." 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. » 
 
 power to raise itself upwards, but remains a low creeping 
 caudex, it towers in others to the height of 200 feet, dis- 
 playing a vigour altogether prodigious ; while in some it is 
 hardly as thick as a goosequill, it measures in others from 
 three to five feet in diameter ; while in some it is climbing 
 and seeking for support among the surrounding vegetation, 
 it exists in others quite independent of all other plants; 
 while in some it is cylindrical and undivided (simple), it is 
 in others — as the Doom or Gingerbread-tree of Egypt, the 
 Palmetto of Mexico, and the Sago Palm of New Ireland — 
 more or less forked ; while in some it is perfectly smooth or 
 even brightly polished, it is in others rough with concentric 
 rings ; and again, while in some it is armed with spines of 
 greater or lesser length and thickness, it is in others covered 
 with hairv fibres. 
 
 The foliage, that part of the Palms which renders them 
 objects of such beauty and elegance, generally forms a mag- 
 nificent crown at the end of the trunk. The leaves, sup- 
 ported on petioles, or leaf-stalks, sheathing at the base, are 
 alternate, coriaceous, and often of such gigantic size, — mea- 
 suring, as they do in some species, fifty feet in length and eight 
 in width, — that they surpass in the latter respect those of any 
 natural order of plants. Their structure may be summed 
 
INTEODUCTION. 17 
 
 up in a few words : — thej are simple, and furnished with a 
 midrib, from which parallel veins branch off. This structure, 
 best seen in some species of Geonoma, — G. simplicifronSy 
 Willd., for instance, where it appears in all its normal sim- 
 plicity, — is common to all Palm*, but assumes in different 
 species different forms, easily recognized by accomplished 
 botanists wont to look upon the Vegetable Kingdom with a 
 morphological eye, but not so readily traced by those who 
 have made only a limited progress in phytological studies. 
 In some species — as, for example, in the species of Geonoma 
 just quoted — the blade of the leaves is quite entire; while in 
 others, of which the Cocoa-nut may be cited as the type, it 
 is cut into long segments (pinnatisect), giving it the appear- 
 ance of the plume of a feather : occasionally, in the genus 
 Caryota, these segments are again divided (bipinnatisect), 
 .their ultimate divisions resembling in shape the fin or tail 
 of a fish. The midrib in these three forms, it must be ob- 
 served, extends throughout the whole length of the leaves; 
 when the contrary is the case, namely when the midrib is 
 less developed, palmate or fan-shaped leaves are the result. 
 This however does not happen very frequently; for, out of 
 582 known species, only ninety-one have fan-shaped leaves- 
 The leaves are green, generally on both sides, as in the 
 
 c 
 
18 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 different species of CJiamcRdorea, but occasionally on the 
 under side of a silvery white, as in the Copernicia Mira- 
 guama and C. cerifera ; sometimes the middle of some 
 leaves is adorned with concentric bands of yellow and blue 
 in the manner of a peacock's tail, as in the prickly Mau- 
 ritia, discovered by Bonpland, on the banks of the Eio 
 Atabapo. The direction of the leaves is a character of no 
 less importance than that of form and colour. The seg- 
 ments are either ranged in a comb-like manner close to 
 one another, with a stiff parenchyma, allowing the solar 
 rays to play over their surface, and causing them to shine 
 with a brilliant verdure in the Cocoa-nut Palm, and with 
 a fainter, ashy-coloured hue in the Date-tree ; or they have 
 a more flexible, grass-like texture, and are curled near the 
 extremity. Another peculiarity is also notable : the more 
 acute the angle made by the leaves with the upper part of 
 the stem — the nearer the leaves approach the perpendicular, 
 — the bolder and nobler is the aspect of the species to 
 which they belong. This will at once be evident by com- 
 paring the pendent leaves of the Palma de Covija [Coperni- 
 cia tectorum) with the more horizontal leaves of the Cocoa- 
 nut Palm, and the lofty heavenward-pointed foliage of the 
 Jagua, the Cucurito, and Pirijao. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 In Palms with feathery (pinnatisect) leaves the petioles 
 either burst from the dry, rough, ligneous portion of the stem, 
 — as, for instance, in the Cocos nucifera and Phoenix dactyli' 
 fera, — or there rises in the rough part of the stem a grass- 
 green, smooth, and thinner shaft, like one column above 
 another, from which the leaf-stalks spring, as is the case 
 in Oreodoxa reg'ia. In the Ean Palms the living foliage 
 often rests on a layer of dead leaves, imparting to the tree 
 a character of melancholy solemnity and grandeur. 
 
 Palms, after having arrived at the proper age, flower 
 either every year until they die, or only once during the 
 whole course of their existence. The spathe, or sheath 
 enclosing the flowers, consists of one or many valves, is 
 occasionally of a woody texture, and presents, according 
 to the testimony of Alexander von Humboldt and Richard 
 Schomburgk, the curious phenomenon of bursting suddenly 
 open with an audible report, reminding one of Pindar's 
 Dithyrambus on Spring, and of the moment when, in the 
 Argive Nemsea, " the first opening shoot of the Date Palm 
 announces the coming of balmy Spring." The flowers 
 themselves are produced on either a simple or a branched 
 spadix, appearing in the axil of the leaves or at the end of 
 the stem (being terminal), and in the latter instance fore- 
 
20 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 shadowing, as Palms have not the power of forming regular 
 side-branches^ the death of the individual graced by their 
 presence. 
 
 The flowers, supported by scaly bracts, are polygamous, 
 or occasionally hermaphrodite ; they are small and incon- 
 spicuous, generally of a white, pale-yellow, or green colour; 
 but, as if to make up for this defect (if we may use that 
 term), they emit sometimes a very powerful odour, which 
 attracts such swarms of insects that a newly-burst spathe 
 may, in most cases, be discovered by the buzzing cloud of 
 them hovering around it ; and moreover they are mostly 
 produced in such masses as to present an eminently strik- 
 ing and imposing appearance. A single spathe of the Date 
 Palm contains 12,000 male flowers ; AlfonsicL amygdalina 
 has been computed to have 207,000 flowers in a spathe. 
 A still greater number is observable in Sagus RumpJiii, a 
 single spathe of which has, according to the calculations 
 made by Professor Agardh, Mr. Alexander Smith, and 
 myself on one of the specimens in the Botanical Museum 
 at Kew, no less than 208,000 flowers, or about 624,000 
 upon a single tree ! 
 
 The sepals, — or outer perigonial leaves, as some authors 
 term them, — three in number, are fleshy or leathery, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 persistent ; the petals, or inner perigonial leaves, alternate 
 with, and are often larger than, the former ; both caljx 
 and corolla, or inner and outer perigonial leaves, are some- 
 times united throughout the greater part of their length 
 (connate), so as to consist only of a single piece. The 
 stamens are definite, mostly six in number; in some 
 instances that number is trebled, and very rarely reduced 
 to three. The filaments are quite free, or in a few excep- 
 tional cases form amongst themselves a kind of tube. The 
 anthers are turned inwards, and two-celled. The ovary 
 is free, and usually composed of three, or rarely of two or 
 only one, carpellary leaves ; the ovules are solitary, or oc- 
 casionally in single pairs, erect, and orthotropal, or anatropal 
 in various degrees. The styles are continuous with the 
 carpels, and equal to them in number. The fruits, being 
 drupaceous, or nut-like, or berried, often covered with a 
 fibrous rind, are almost of every colour, and occasionally 
 very numerous; a siugle spathe of the Seje Palm of the 
 Orinoco bears as many as 8000 of them. Compared with 
 the size of the plants, they are generally small ; some are 
 in this respect like peas. The common Cocoa-nut is one 
 of the largest ; and the double Cocoa-nut of the Seychelles, 
 measuring about four feet in circumference, is probably 
 
22 POPULAR HISTOHY OJ)' PALMSf 
 
 surpassed in its dimensions by none hitherto discovered ; 
 the seedj filling the cavity in which it grows, is often re- 
 ticulated ; and the albumen — of w^hich the white fleshy 
 part inside the Cocoa-nut may serve as an illustration — 
 fills the kernel, and is frequently ruminate. The embryo is 
 undivided, and conical or cylindrical. 
 
 Such is a general account of Palms, — plants which, 
 at the present day, we associate with all that is poetical 
 and beautiful. We introduce them frequently as rhetorical 
 figures, and thus involuntarily bear testimony to the great 
 influence they exercise over our minds. We speak of 
 " palmy days " when wishing to allude to times of glory ; 
 we say of a man that " he has carried ofp the palm " when 
 desiring to express his having achieved an honourable 
 victory over an adversary ; we give the name of " Palm 
 Sunday'^ to the festival on which we celebrate the tri- 
 umphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, as much on 
 account of the transcendent ideas connected with that event 
 as on account of the palm-leaves stated to have been used 
 on that occasion. It would be an interesting, though a 
 difficult, inquiry to find out how long Palms have thus 
 been associated with these and similar ideas and sentiments. 
 The first step towards a satisfactory result in that direction 
 
INTIIODUCTION, 23 
 
 would be to endeavour answering the questions : — '' How 
 long is it since the term ' Palm ' has been used as a general 
 or collective one for the plants now called so?^^ ^' Has it, 
 or any synonym, always been applied to them, or has that 
 been the case only in modern times ?" The latter is the 
 most probable. The Romans — not to go further back — 
 from whom we obtained the name, originally gave it solely, 
 it would seem, to the dwarf Fan Palm (Ckamcero^s humiliSf 
 Linn.), a plant growing in considerable abundance near 
 the Mediterranean Sea, probably on account of a certain 
 resemblance of its leaves to the human hand {joalma), in 
 the same way as the Aztecs applied to their singular 
 Cheirosfemon platanoideSj H.B.K., the term "Macpalxo- 
 chitlquahuitl/' or hand-flower tree. Afterwards it appears 
 to have been gradually extended to the other members 
 of the Order, until it has become incorporated as a col- 
 lective term with most modern European languages. The 
 Indian Amarishina has called the Palms " Kings among 
 Grasses," a title as objectionable as that of " Princes of the 
 Vegetable Kingdom," but so far valuable as it shows an 
 attempt at finding some general term for the whole of 
 them ; for although the Palms, with scarcely any excep- 
 tions, have specific names in their native countries, they 
 
24 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 are always without any general (collective) ones, unless the 
 latter are derived from the sources indicated. A few words 
 will explain this circumstance. The presence of specific 
 vernacular names in barbarous countries is a sure proof 
 that the plants bearing them have attracted the attention 
 of the natives, either by their noxious or useful qualities, 
 or by their odour, colour, beauty of form, or some other 
 peculiarities ; for whenever the contrary is the case, the 
 plants have remained without names. The absence of 
 general vernacular terms in uncivilized countries is not 
 confined to Palms, but is common to all other things, 
 and proves that the nations destitute of them never had 
 any use for them; or, in other words, they never began 
 to generalize, never attempted to reason. This remark 
 applies also to civilized countries, and accounts for our 
 occasionally hearing there unthinking men expressing sur- 
 prise when a fish is called an animal, and a tree a plant. 
 If therefore we find people or persons inventing or using 
 a general (collective) term for the plants named by us 
 Palms, it indicates a step in popular progress, towards a 
 more perfect knowledge of them, the importance of which 
 can scarcely be overrated. It plainly shows that they 
 have commenced to think about them ; and that is exactly 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 the movement which those who, from choice or compul- 
 sion, hold the office of poj^ular instructors, are desirous of 
 bringing about. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PALMS. 
 
 During the last, and even the first quarter of the present 
 century, so little was known of the structure of Palms, and 
 all that was known appeared so abnormal to the 'scientific 
 men of those days, that they were only too readily inclined 
 to class with them almost all fossil plants presenting 
 strange and curious forms. This remark applies with full 
 force to Slgillaria and Lepidodendron, genera belonging to 
 palaeozoic formations ; and, startling as it may be, it can- 
 not be very surprising to us, when we consider that even 
 in our own times notions equally erroneous prevail to an 
 almost incredible extent. For instance, a principal share 
 in the formation of coal is still ascribed by the generality 
 of geologists to the Ferns, although it was proved some 
 years ago, by a series of careful observations on nume- 
 rous carboniferous formations, that such can be claimed 
 only for the Sigillanas and Stigmarias ; that merely a sub- 
 
26 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS^ 
 
 ordinate sliarc is due to the Araucarias and Calamites con- 
 tained in anthracite coal, and a still more insignificant one 
 to the Lcpidodendrons, the Ferns, and the other members 
 of the flora of the carboniferous period. 
 
 A diligent study of the extinct flora has demonstrated 
 that the Palms occur more rarely than was thought in the 
 transition rocks and the carboniferous formation, and more 
 frequently than was believed in more recent formations. 
 Generally speaking, we know at present only trunks, leaves 
 (both fan-shaped and pinnatisect ones), and a few fruits of 
 the fossil Palms ; flowers have not as yet been discovered, 
 and spathes, which have been disentombed, have hitherto 
 not been satisfactorily proved to belong to this order. 
 These fragments, remnants of members of former creations, 
 have been distributed under nine genera and seventy-eight 
 species. 
 
 The classification itself is very simple. For the trunks, 
 there have been adopted the genera Palmacites, Brongn. 
 (with two species), and Ftjscicidifes, Cotta (with twenty- 
 four species), the former not difi*ering essentially from the 
 latter. For the leaves, the genera i7</^^//^n'rtt, Sternb. (twenty- 
 two species), with fan-shaped leaves ; ZeugojihyllUeSy Brongn. 
 (two species), with pinnatisect leaves, the segments of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 which, resembling those of Calamus anci Desrdoncits of the 
 present flora, are opposite, and have an uneqaal, well- 
 marked nervation ; Phcenicites, Brongn. (ten species), with 
 pinnatisect leaves, the segments of which are opposite, and 
 have not such strong nerves as those of Zeugo^Jiijllltes, 
 but they have a midrib ; and Amesonetironj Gcepp. (five spe- 
 cies), with pinnated leaves, the segments of which are fur- 
 nished with nerves either equally thick, or alternately thick 
 and thin, and they are besides without a midrib, — hence the 
 name. Tor the spathes, the genus PalaospatJia, Unger 
 (four species), which, as has already been stated, is founded 
 upon doubtful materials. For the fruits, the genera Bac- 
 cites, Zenk. (three species), resembhug somewhat Sj/agrus 
 hotTyophora, Mart., and CasteUinia, Massalong. (six spe- 
 cies), related, according to Massalonga (author of 'A Syn- 
 opsis of Fossil Palms'), to the Cocoinea tribe of Martins. 
 The genus Burtinia, Endl., placed by Unger among these 
 plants, belongs, without a doubt, to NipaditeSj among 
 Pandanea. 
 
 Although our present imperfect knowledge of fossil 
 plants renders it an almost useless task to speak of the 
 proportion which the number of Palms bears to that of 
 other members of the extinct flora, yet it may be re- 
 
28 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 marked, that if the number of species of the Fossil Flora 
 is assumed to be 4000 (there are actually at present 3945 
 described). Palms constitute about an eighty-fourth part 
 of the whole."^ 
 
 In the transition rocks no remnants of Palms have as 
 yet been discovered. In the carboniferous formation five 
 species have been noticed; in the '' Kupfersandstein/' or 
 Permian formation, only two have been collected ; in the 
 secondary class of rocks, which succeeds (Keuper, Bunter 
 Sandstein, Muschelkalk, Lias, Jura, and Wealden forma- 
 tion), none have been gathered, except three in the creta- 
 ceous formation, specially in the " Quadersandstein.^' The 
 greatest number has been found in the tertiary class of 
 rocks, viz. sixty, twenty-nine of which belong to the Eocene, 
 and thirty-one to the Miocene formation. The habitat of 
 nine species remains still unknown. 
 
 It will be seen from this synopsis that there was a geo- 
 logical period when Palms were entirely wanting in the 
 extinct flora, or when, after their first appearance, they 
 vanished again, and after a lapse of time appeared once 
 
 * Of these 4000 species 1100 belong to the Palaeozoic, 538 to the Secon- 
 dary, 200 to the Cretaceous formation, and according to a calculation made 
 by Dr. Gcippert in August, 1854, 2095 to the whole Tertiary class of rocks. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 more : a state of things which, if confirmed, would certainfy 
 be highly curious, and is one which has never before been 
 observed in a like manner in any large group of plants. No 
 species is common to two formations. Several species show 
 a remarkable degree of resemblance to those of the now 
 existing flora, especially some of those discovered by Jung- 
 huhn, and described by Goppert in the ' Tertiary Flora of 
 Java,' as, for instance, Amesoneuron calyjptrocalyXy Goepp., 
 A.- dracopliylliim, Goepp., A. fagifolium, Gcepp., and A. 
 anceps, Goepp. But it would be rather bold, perhaps in- 
 judicious, to attempt identifying them, from the fragments 
 hitherto collected, with species of the present flora. The 
 result hitherto obtained only entitles us to say : — Palms 
 make no exception to the rule laid down, that the laws 
 governing the Vegetable Kingdom were the same in all 
 periods of our earth's history when plants existed; and 
 that the species of Palms have a very local geological, as 
 they have a very local geographical, distribution. 
 
 The Palms of our present flora may be said to be almost 
 exclusively tropical plants, being most numerous, both in 
 species and individuals, towards the equator, and decreas- 
 ing on receding from it. Pew extend their range into 
 the warmer parts of the temperate zones, and none, it is 
 
30 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMSf 
 
 hardly necessary to add, venture within the limits of the 
 Arctic and Antarctic Circles. The true Pahn climate has 
 a mean annual temperature of 70° to 81° 5' Tahr. ; but 
 the Date Palm vegetates in the South of Europe, in 
 districts the mean annual temperature of which is only 
 from 59° to 6^° 4' Eahr. Martins has divided the Palm 
 region into five zones, which he has named and circum- 
 scribed as follows : — The North Palm Zone, extending from 
 the northern limit of Palms to the tropic of Cancer ; the 
 Transition North Palm Zone, from the tropic of Cancer to 
 the 10th degree of north latitude; the Chief Palm Zone, 
 from the 10th degree of north to the 10th degree of south 
 latitude; the Transition Palm Zone, from the 10th degree 
 of south latitude to the tropic of Capricorn ; and the South 
 Palm Zone, from the tropic of Capricorn to the southern 
 limits of the family. The northern limit of Palms is, in 
 Europe, the 43rd degree, in Asia and America the 34th 
 degree of north latitude ; the southern limit in Africa the 
 34th, in Australia (New Zealand) the 38th, and in America 
 the 36th degree of south latitude. To the north of the 
 tropic of Cancer forty-three species of Palms are known to 
 exist ; to the south of the tropic of Capricorn only thir- 
 teen. Advancing from either side towards the equator, the 
 
VmceiK arodks .ruo . 
 
 Acrocomia MeJDcana , Xa.-nv & Chamaedorea Schiedeajia . Afart. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 number increases, until in the Chief Zone, between the 10th 
 degree of north and south latitude, there are more than 
 three hundred species. In the Eastern Hemisphere, the islands 
 of the Indian Archipelago ; in the Western, the valleys of the 
 Amazon and Orinoco on the mainland, produce the greatest 
 number of Palms. In proportion to its extent, America 
 is the most prolific country in Palms; for while the Old 
 World — including Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, with 
 their islands — contains 307 species, the New World — that 
 is to say, America alone — can boast of 275. In the Old 
 World the islands produce more species than the continents, 
 the former containing 194, the latter only 113 ; in the New 
 World however the reverse is the case, the continent pos- 
 sessing 234, the islands only 42. The species have generally 
 a very local geographical distribution : only a few, such as 
 Elms melanococcayHiji^hjPMe Thehaica,Acrocomia sclerocarpaj 
 and Borassus flabelliformis, possess an extensive range ; but 
 none of the species, — if we except the Cocos nucifera (the 
 Cocoa-nut tree), about the native country of which there 
 are grave doubts, — are found in a wild state in both hemi- 
 spheres, rendering cosmopohtanism in this family an im- 
 possibility. 
 
 The localities in which Palms grow are as diversified as 
 
32 POPULAR HIGTORY OF PALM^. 
 
 everything else connected with these extraordinary plants. 
 While some are closely confined in the hotter regions of 
 the tropics to the shores of the ocean, and are scarcely able 
 to extend their range beyond the limits of the sea-breeze, 
 others flourish luxuriantly far inland on the tops of moun- 
 tains 14,000 feet high, and in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of perpetual snow; while some seek the moistui'e, 
 shade, and gloom of the virgin forest, others take up their 
 abode in arid deserts, where they are exposed to the ful^ 
 influence of the scorching rays of an equinoctial sun; while 
 some luxuriate in swamps, others only live in well-drained 
 soil; while some form extensive woods by themselves, and 
 seem to expel from their society all other large plants, 
 others, adopting more social habits, live harmoniously in 
 company with other members of the Vegetable Kingdom of 
 equal size with themselves, but not in any way connected with 
 them by ties of relationship ; while some are intermingled 
 with oaks and pines, — representatives of the flora of the 
 temperate zones, — others keep company with Scitaminea, 
 IngaSj arboreous Ruhiacece, tree-ferns, gigantic Arums, and 
 epiphytical OrcJddece, — forms typical of the vegetation of 
 the Tropics : in fine, almost every species grows under cir- 
 cumstances peculiar to itself; hence the difficulty, nay im- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 possibility, of generalizing on the liabitat of the Order ; but 
 hence also the interest connected with this topic. 
 
 How many species of Palms are scattered over the face 
 of the globe, is still an open question. Many plains will 
 have to be traversed, many mountains to be climbed, ere 
 sufficient data will have been brought together for a final 
 and satisfactory answer. Only fifteen species were known 
 at the time of the death of Linnaeus ; Euiz and Pavon 
 added eight, while Humboldt and Bonpland described 
 twenty new ones, and distinguished a great many more, 
 which they named, without however being able to procure 
 their blossoms in a perfect state, an object occasionally at- 
 tended with considerable difficulties."^ Of later years great 
 
 * " The difficulties," says Humboldt, " of reaching and procuring the blos- 
 soms of Palms are, in fact, greater than can well be conceived. Most of the 
 Palms flower only once a year, and this period near the equator is generally 
 about the months of January and February. How few travellers are likely 
 to be in the region of Palms precisely during this season ! The period of 
 blossoming of particular trees is often limited to a few days, and the traveller 
 commonly finds, on his arrival in the region of Palms, that the blossoms have 
 passed away, and that the trees present only fructified ovaries, and no male 
 flowers. In an area of 32,000 square miles, there are often not more than 
 three or four species of Palms to be found. Who can possibly, during the 
 brief period of flowering, simultaneously visit the various Palm regions near 
 the Missions, on the Rio Caroni, in the Moricheles, at the mouth of the 
 
 D 
 
34 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 additions liave been made by the indefatigable labours of 
 Martins, Liebmann, Griffith, D'Orbigny, Blume, Spruce, 
 "Wallich, and others, so that we are acquainted at present 
 with about six hundred species, scarcely one half of which 
 
 Orinoco, in tTie valley of Cauca and Erenato, on the banks of tlie Atabapo 
 and the Rio Xegro, and on the declivity of the Duida ? There is moreover 
 great difficulty, when the trees grow in thick woods, or on swampy shores (as 
 at the Jemi and Jaamini), in reaching the blossoms, which are often suspended 
 from stems, formidably armed with huge thorns, and rising to a height of 
 between sixty and seventy feet. Those who contemplate distant travels from 
 Europe, for the purpose of investigating subjects of natural history, picture 
 to themselves visions of efficient shears and curved knives attached to poles, 
 ready for securing anything that comes in their way, and of boys who, obe- 
 dient to their mandates, are prepared, with a cord attached to their feet, to 
 climb the loftiest trees. Unfortunately, scarcely any of these visions are ever 
 realized, while the flowers are almost unattainable, owing to the great height 
 at which they grow. In the missionary settlements of the river network of 
 Guiana, the stranger finds himself amongst Indians who, rendered rich and 
 independent by their apathy, their poverty, and their barbarism, cannot be 
 induced, either by money or presents, to deviate three steps from the regular 
 path, supposing one to exist. This stubborn indifference of the natives pro- 
 vokes the European so much the more from his being continually a witness 
 of the inconceivable agility with which they will climb any height when 
 prompted by their own inclination; as, for instance, in the pursuit of a 
 parrot, an iguana, or a monkey, which, wounded by their arrows, saves itself 
 from falling by its prehensile tail. In the month of January the stems of 
 the Palma real {Oreodoxa regia, H.B.K.) were covered with snow-vvhite 
 blossoms in all the most frequented thoroughfares of the Havana and in the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 85 
 
 are, according to Hermann Wendland,'^ under cultivation 
 in European gardens. Martins, whose authority in all mat- 
 ters concerning Palms is of weight, thinks that the whole 
 number existing on our earth may amount to about one 
 thousand species, which, considerable as it appears, may be 
 far below the truth ; I say, may be, as similar calculations 
 have invariably been proved by our increasing stock of 
 knowledge to be erroneous. 
 
 immediate vicinity of the city ; but althougli we offered, for several conse- 
 cutive days, a couple of piastres for a single spadix of the hermaphrodite 
 blossoms to every Negro boy we met in the streets of Regla and Guanava- 
 coa, it was in vain ; for in the Tropics no free man will ever undertake any 
 labour attended by fatigue, unless he is compelled to do so by imperative 
 necessity. The botanists and painters of the Royal Spanish Commission of 
 Natm'al History, under Count Don Jaruco y Mopox (Estevez, Boldo, Guio, 
 Echeveria), confessed to us that for several years they had been unable to 
 examine these blossoms, owing to the absolute impossibility of obtaining 
 them." {A. v. Hurnholdf s AnsicJiten der Natur). My learned friend has here 
 stated, very circumstantially, the diflSculties pi'esenting themselves in collect- 
 ing flowering specimens of Palms, but he has omitted to mention that some 
 botanists have it perfectly in their power to escape at once from the distress- 
 ing position alluded to in the latter part of his statement, namely, by them- 
 selves climbing the trees, the blossoms of which they are desirous of obtaining. 
 * ' Index Palmarum, Cyclanthearuni, Pandanearum, Cycadearum, quae in 
 hortis Europseis coluutur, synouymis gravioribus interpositis. Cura Her- 
 manui Wendland.' Hannoveree, 1854. 
 
36 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. * 
 
 CULTIVATION OF PALMS IN NORTHERN EUROPE. 
 
 Most of the Palms are too closely confined to the hotter 
 regions of our globe to grow in the open air of cold coun- 
 tries like England or Germany. Only one species, Phoenix 
 dactyUfera of Northern Africa, has been naturalized in 
 Italy and other parts bordering the Mediterranean Sea; 
 and only two species, CJiamcerops Jiumilis of Southern 
 Europe, and C. excelsa of Northern China, have proved 
 hardy in some of the milder districts of Great Britain ; and 
 although there is reason to suppose that several others may 
 be able to bear a European winter without being injured by 
 frost, yet the greater portion of them can oidy be cultivated 
 in our latitudes under the crystal roofs of conservatories, 
 specially built for their reception. It requires therefore, 
 particularly as the Palms are nearly all plants of great 
 dimensions, considerable means to become the owner of a 
 living collection of them; and those who cannot afford to 
 spend large sums of money have, unfortunately, to desist 
 from the accomplishment of sncli an object. But the pro- 
 verb, " Where there 's a will there 's a way," remains not 
 without application in this instance. The admirers of 
 Palms have discovered long ago that several species may. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 in the absence of better accommodation^ be grown to con- 
 siderable perfection in a room; and I have a Continental 
 friendj — a gentleman of more taste for plants than means 
 of gratifying it_, — who has devoted one corner of his study 
 to a regular bower^ composed of Date-palms, ChamaedoreaSj 
 and other members of this order^ all flourishing luxuriantly 
 in company with Dracsenas, India-rubber trees. Arums, Ivy, 
 and Begonias. During the winter, when all nature is re- 
 posing in her icy bed, and white flakes of snow are drifted 
 against the windows, he may often be observed sitting in 
 that charming corner, reading, writing, or carrying on some 
 other rational occupation, and now and then looking up, 
 enjoying the sight of the fire blazing in the stove, and the 
 green foliage by which he is surrounded. 
 
 Yet as even the cultivation of a few types of the order 
 of Palms in the manner indicated is a luxury which only a 
 limited class of people is able to enjoy, and as the number 
 of those who possess a predilection for these elegant mem- 
 bers of the Yegetable Kingdom is considerable, it is a 
 matter of congratulation that in so many public and private 
 gardens in nearly every civilized part of Europe '*■ Palm- 
 houses^' are built, some of them of such dimensions, and 
 their contents arranged with so much care and judgment. 
 
38 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 as to make their visitors fancy themselves transported into 
 the midst of those virgin forests, of which Palms, tree-ferns, 
 and Scitamineous plants form the characteristic features. 
 It is unnecessary at tliis place to inquire which of these 
 buildings deserves to be considered as the best, and which 
 collection is the most extensive, — the office of a Paris is one 
 so thankless, that I can scarcely be blamed for trying to 
 escape from it ; nor is it necessary to notice the rivalry for 
 pre-eminence observable in this respect amongst the various 
 horticultural establishments, — a feeling to be encouraged 
 rather than deprecated : it is sufficient for the purpose in 
 view, to mention, as an example of a fine Palm-house, and 
 as a noble collection of Palms, that of the Eoyal Botanic 
 Gardens of Kew, an establishment which, since it has be- 
 come national property and has been placed under the judi- 
 cious direction of Sir W. J. Hooker, has acquired a degree 
 of fame, completely putting into the shade that by which 
 the " Hortus Ivewensis" was formerly identified with bo- 
 tanical science. 
 
 The Palm-house or Palm-stove of the Eoyal Botanic 
 Gardens of Kew, built from a design of Decimus Burton, 
 Esq., was coQipleted in the year 1848. The shell, or ex- 
 ternal frame, consists of a centre and two wings, occupying 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 an open area 362 feet in length; the centre is 100 feet 
 wide, and 6Q feet in height to tlie summit of the lantern ; 
 the wiugs are 50 feet wide and 30 feet high. The whole is 
 of iron, stone, brick, and sheet-glass, the latter shghtlj 
 tinged with green, to temper the too powerful rays of light. 
 The extent of glass covering this vast building is about 
 45,000 square feet. The ribs, inserted in enormous blocks 
 of Cornish granite, are placed on the most solid concrete. 
 The central portion of the building, — a space 138 feet long 
 and 100 feet wide, — has a substantial gallery all round, at 
 the height of 30 feet from the floor, ascended and descend- 
 ed by spiral staircases, enabling visitors to view the plant 
 from above, by bringing them on a level with the summits 
 of many of the loftiest. The whole interior is heated by hot- 
 water pipes and tanks, distributed under the tables and 
 beneath the level of the floor. To avoid the ugliness of a 
 chimney attached to so noble a structure, or even placed 
 near it, the smoke is conveyed by an underground flue, 
 within a brick tunnel, to a distance of 479 feet from the 
 house, where the most part of it is consumed, and the re- 
 mainder ascends by means of a shaft or ornamental tower 
 96 feet high, so situated and of such a form as to be an 
 
40 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS? 
 
 architectural object when seen from the main walk of the 
 Garden."^ 
 
 On entering this magnificent buildings the visitor sud- 
 denly finds himself in the midst of a tropical vegetation. 
 Broad-leaved Plantains,, Bananas^ Strelitzias and Uranias, 
 Feathery Bamboos^ Tree-ferns and Tamarind-trees, Spiny 
 Screwpines and Cactuses, are mingled with numerous 
 Palms of all dimensions and sizes ; the whole being grace- 
 fully interwoven and surrounded by creeping and winding 
 plants, — Passion-flowers, Bauhinias, Jessamines, Aristolo- 
 chias, and others, — and agreeably relieved by the vivid green 
 of densely crowded Lycopodiums, covering like turf the 
 ground between them. The two loftiest Palms arresting the 
 attention are species of Cocoa-nut [Cocos j^l'ti^osa and C. 
 coronata), both good examples of the extensive group bear- 
 ing pinnatisect leaves ; the two stoutest, a species of Sabal ^ 
 [S, umhracidlfera), equally good examples of another less 
 numerous group, distinguished by its fan-shaped leaves. 
 There are besides in this collection : — the Date Palm 
 [PJicenix dact?/lifera) , producing the dates of commerce 
 
 * For further details of this fine building, see ' Kew Gardens, or a 
 Popular Guide to the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew.' By Sir W.J. Hooker. 
 12th edition. London, 1854. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 and of Scripture ; the Palmyra Palm [Borassusflabelliformis), 
 one of the most difficult of Palms to rear; the African 
 Oil-palm {Elceis Guineensis), which yields Palm-oil; the 
 Cocoa-nut [Cocoa nucifera), the uses of which are said to 
 be more numerous than the days of the year ; the Ameri- 
 can Cabbage Palm [Oreodoxa.oleracea), the young leaves of 
 which are an excellent esculent vegetable; the Betel-nut 
 tree [Areca Catechu) ; the Wild Date of India [Phoejiix 
 sylvestrii)j supplying Palm-wine and sugar ; the Ivory-plant 
 {Thyteleplias macrocar^a) , the seeds of which resemble ani- 
 mal ivory in appearance; the Wax Palm of the Andes 
 {Ceroxylon andicola), of which the full-grown stem is co- 
 vered with a waxy substance ; and lastly the Broom Palm 
 [Attalea fimifera), the coarse fibre of which is used for 
 making brooms and brushes. 
 
 It would lead us too far, and we should be obliged to 
 anticipate too much of what is about to be discussed in 
 the following pages, were we to extend our sketch of this 
 remarkable collection. Enough has been said to convince 
 the student of Palms that the Great Conservatory in the 
 Eoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew is a place worthy of his 
 attention, and a school where much valuable information 
 jnay be obtained. Por the purposes of study, no doubt a 
 
42 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS* 
 
 briglit sunny day is to be recommended; but to see the 
 Palms to their greatest advantage, in an aesthetic point of 
 view, a dull or rainy day should be selected, especially when 
 the shades of evening are approacliing, — a time when they 
 always look best, owing partly in Kew to some local causes,^ 
 but principally to the fact that the generality of Palms are 
 intended for the gloom of the virgin forest, and are there- 
 fore, like some pictures, not well adapted for bright and 
 strong lights. If at such a time the visitor will take up his 
 position in the gallery, and cast his eye upon the thick foli- 
 age filHng the vast area of the building, his thoughts cannot 
 help wandering to those far-off regions whence the beautiful 
 objects before him have with so much difficulty and care 
 been imported. If he know anything of the history of 
 botany, the names of Humboldt, Wallich, Bonpland, J. D. 
 Hooker, Purdie, "Wilson, Griffith, Linden, Hart w eg, and 
 others, who, disregarding dangers and mental and bodily 
 exertions, explored trackless forests, climbed steep moun- 
 tains, traversed pestilential swamps — the abode of myriads 
 
 * The plants, having to be syringed with water from the Thames, which is 
 charged with a considerable quantity of alluvium, are covered with a minute 
 crust of dust, hardly seen when they are moist, as in the evenings, when 
 the process of syringing is applied, or on damp days, but rather conspi- 
 cuous when they are quite dry, which is always the case during clear weather. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 43 
 
 of mosquitos, — and crossed dreary deserts and monotonous 
 steppes, will flash before liis memory as having been in- 
 strumental in bringing together this magnificent collection, 
 —magnificent from its numerical size, its excellent condi- 
 tion, and its noble associations : and whilst admiring the 
 heroism displayed by them in facing savage people and 
 ferocious animals often obstructing their passage, and the 
 patient endurance they exhibited in dragging scarce plants 
 from the entangled masses of virgin forests and the remote 
 recesses of the highest mountains, he cannot but feel grate- 
 ful to those men who thus strove to satiate that irresistible 
 thirst for knowledge felt by every human being, laboured 
 so strenuously towards completing the grand survey of those 
 finite things, calculated in such eminent degree to inspire 
 us with love and reverence for the infinite ! Gradually, 
 whilst giving rise to such and similar reflections, the 
 verdant masses will assume before his mind^s eye more 
 extensive dimensions than they actually possess, become 
 endless forests, where strange animals and barbarous people 
 have taken up their abode. .The more he looks, the more 
 new beauties, fresh charms, will be revealed ; and the more 
 he reflects, the more uses, the more properties beneficial to 
 mankind, will be discovered ; until, fully impressed with the 
 
44 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS.* 
 
 grandeur of the subject before him^ lie will exclaim: — 
 "What a pity that our northern countries are deprived of 
 Palms, plants alike beautiful and useful ! I wonder why 
 this is, — why a country should not be able to supply all the 
 wants of its own people, and thus ensure the perfect inde- 
 pendence of one nation from another. Why have we to go 
 to Africa for our dates, to America for our cocoa-nuts, and 
 to Asia for our sago?" Nature does nothing without an 
 object, and must, in acting thus, have intended to convey a 
 lesson. What can that lesson be? A great and glorious 
 one, repeated in all her works, even in the smallest details ! 
 She has never lavished on one country all the productions 
 which its inhabitants require, nor heaped — to quote another 
 instance — upon an individual human being all the talents 
 and beauties of our species, though she may have been 
 occasionally extremely liberal, but sown them broadcast 
 over the whole face of the earth, divided them judiciously 
 amongst the whole race of man. She has, by distributing 
 her gifts in such a manner, wished to point out the mutual 
 dependency of one country or one man upon another, thus 
 practically teaching us peace, humility, love! — tlie three 
 great watchwords, without which human society cannot 
 prosper, and human happiness becomes an impossibility. 
 
ruu,: 
 
 r'EarJt 'id '. 
 
 cr-i^i. '.a'ti.hv. Ltyy:". 
 
45 
 
 DETAILED ACCOUNT OE THE PALMS. 
 
 Genus I. ACEOCOMIA, Martius. 
 
 The traveller in tropical America^ after disentangling him- 
 self from the dense jnngle of the virgin forests, and entering 
 once more the open country, — the campos, savanas, llanos, 
 prairies, and pampas, — often finds the landscape dotted 
 with Palms, which a closer inspection readily identifies with 
 those occasionally seen on the banks of rivers bordering 
 the forests just left behind. Their stem, seldom exceeding 
 the height of fifty feet, is often swollen in the middle, and 
 clad, as are the petioles and spathes, with long brown or 
 black spines ; their leaves, forming a dense crown at the 
 top of the trunk, are pinnatisect, of a lively green, and 
 considerable dimensions; their spathes, appearing between 
 the lower leaves, enclose a simply-branched spadix, bearing 
 small green or yellow flowers ; and their fruits (drupes) are 
 round, of a greenish- olive, and contain dark-coloured nuts. 
 These Palms belong to the genus Acrocomia of Martius. 
 
46 POPULAR HISTORY OE PALM^. 
 
 Tliey have long been known to botanists, being mentioned 
 by Aublet, Gartner, and Jacquin; and have always, it would 
 seem, been famihar to the natives of the districts in 
 which they grow, as all of them, principally on account 
 of the oil extractable from their nuts, are of considerable 
 value in domestic economy. About seven different species 
 have been recognized in systematic works, three of which, 
 A. Cnhensis, Lodd., A. lasiospailia, Mart., and^. sclerocarpa, 
 Mart., have been introduced into European gardens ; but 
 that number will probably have to be reduced, as the dif- 
 ferences between them insisted on by some authors, appear 
 to be of too insignificant a nature ever to receive the general 
 sanction of the botanical world. 
 
 The different species are known in their native countries 
 by the names of ]\Iacaja, Macajah, ^lacaw, Macoja, Maca- 
 huba, Macauba, Mocaja, and Mucuja, all variations of one 
 original term, the diffusion of which over the TVest Indies 
 and the whole eastern part of South America, shows that 
 there is a very striking habitual character in this genus, or 
 else the semi-barbarous people who apply it would never 
 have been able to trace these Palms over so extensive a 
 tract of land. The most important species of Acrocomia 
 is A. sclerocarpa, Mart. {A. aculeata, Lodd.,^^^ J. Smith, 
 
ACEOCOMIA. 47 
 
 » 
 
 Cocos fimformis, Swartz^ C. aculeata, Jacq., Bactris glohosa 
 [minor), Gsertn., Geonoma PoJtlia7ia, Hortor.), the Great 
 Macaw-tree of the West Indies, the Macoya of the Guianas, 
 and the Macahuba of the Brazils : a Palm occurring in con- 
 siderable abundance in Jamaica, Trinidad, and the adjacent 
 islands, as well as the eastern parts of South America as far 
 as the latitude of Eio Janeiro. It is from twenty to thirty 
 feet high, has leaves measuring from ten to fifteen feet in 
 length, and bears a fruit, the nut of which, susceptible of 
 a very high polish, is sometimes fancifully carved by the 
 Negroes. It is on account of the fruit, which yields oil, 
 that the Great Macaw-tree becomes notable. The oil is ex- 
 tracted by the following process : — The fruit, having been 
 slightly roasted, is ground to a paste, first in a mill and 
 then on a levigating stone. This paste, having been gently 
 heated and mixed with three-tenths of its weight of boiling 
 water, is put into a bag, and pressed between two heated 
 plates of iron : it yields about seven-tenths or eight-tenths 
 of oil. The oil, if discoloured, can be purified, when melted 
 by filtration. It is then of the consistence of butter, of a 
 golden yellow hue, has an odour like violets, and a sweet- 
 ish taste. If well preserved, it will keep several years; if 
 spoiled, it loses its golden hue and dehghtful aroma. It 
 
48 POPULAR HISTOKY OF PALMS* 
 
 is frequently sold in tlie shops as " Palm-oil/^ and at pre- 
 sent enters largely into the composition of toilet soaps. As 
 an emollient it is considered to be useful in some painful 
 affections of the joints : the Negroes deem it a sovereign 
 remedy for " bone-ache." 
 
 Less important in an economical point of view is Acro- 
 comia lasiospat/m, Mart., the Mucuja of the Brazilians; a 
 tree which, according to Wallace,"^ is common in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Para, but which is also found in various other 
 parts of Brazil. Its trunk is about forty feet high, smooth, 
 and ringed ; its leaves are drooping ; its fruit, which is of 
 the size of an apricot, globular, and of a greenish-olive co- 
 lour, has a thin layer of firm edible pulp (mesocarpium), of 
 an orange colour, covering the nut (putamen), and which, 
 though oily and bitter, is much esteemed and eagerly sought 
 after by the natives. 
 
 Of still less importance than the foregoing species is 
 Acrocomia Mexicana, Karwinsky [A. Zapotecis, Jangangha), 
 of which my friend Professor C. B. Heller says (Bonplan- 
 dia, vol. ii. p. 157), "I met with this noble tree, vernacularly 
 termed ' Coyoli,' repeatedly in Tabasco and Chiapas, two 
 
 * ' The Palm-trees of the Amazon and their Uses.' By Alfred Russel 
 Wallace. With forty-eight plates. London, 1853. 
 
ARECA. 49 
 
 states particularly rich in Palms, growing isolated on the 
 slopes of hills, but more frequently on the banks of rivers. 
 The trunk, which is from twenty to thirty feet high, and 
 from six inches to a foot in diameter, bears a magnificent 
 and very regular crown of leaves, often seen above the tops 
 of the surrounding trees. The fruit, which is termed ' Co- 
 quito habroso,' is eaten by the inhabitants, but not much 
 esteemed.'"' 
 
 Genus II. AEECA, Lihikbus. 
 
 The European, when beholding for the first time the 
 Bengalese, or still more the Malays and Burmese, cannot 
 help noticing, with a feeling of regret, mingled with dis- 
 gust, the offensive appearance of their mouths, their brick- 
 red lips, and their black teeth, — discolourments brought 
 about by chewing the Betel or Areca-nut, together with 
 lime, tobacco, gambir (an astringent substance extracted 
 from the fohage of JJncana Gamhir, Eoxb.), and the leaves 
 of various species of pepper. The plant yielding it belongs 
 to Areca, a genus composed of about twenty species, un- 
 armed trees, inhabiting the Eastern hemisphere, chiefly the 
 islands; generally growing in groups, and always produ- 
 
 E 
 
50 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 cing slender, annulated trunks, about fifty feet high, and 
 crowned with elegant pinnatisect leaves, having linear, en- 
 tire segments, and bunches of drupes, containing single 
 seeds, scarcely ever larger than a hen's egg. Areca Gate- 
 cJiUy Willd., the well-known Betel or Areca-nut Palm, from 
 which the genus takes its name, and which the Hindoo 
 poets have likened to "an arrow shot from heaven," is 
 cultivated throughout the East Indies, especially towards 
 the sea-coast, near which alone it comes to perfection. It 
 is termed in Sanscrit GoorvaJca, in Bengalee Gooaj in Arabic 
 Foolfid, in Persian and Hindustanee Soopara, in Telingee 
 Poka ChelloOy in Malayan Pinang, and in the languages 
 spoken in the Philippine Islands Bong a and Luyos, As is 
 the case with all plants which liave been long in cultiva- 
 tion, a great many varieties of this tree exist, all of which 
 are distinguished by the natives by particular names, merit- 
 ing, as Griffith justly observes, as much attention as those 
 of the Cocoa-nut. The Betel-nut tree has been well de- 
 scribed by various authors, but perhaps in the most popular 
 manner by Bennett, in his ' TTanderings,'"^ who, when 
 speaking of Sumatra and its productions, says : — 
 
 * 'Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, 
 and China,' etc. By George Bennett. London, 1834. 
 
ARECA. 51 
 
 "The Areca Palm is of elegant growth, rising with a 
 very erect and slender trunk to the height of forty or even 
 sixty feet, the summit terminating in a tuft of dark-green 
 foliage ; the trunk is seldom more than eighteen inches to 
 two feet in circumference ; when young of dark- green, and 
 when old of a dark-grey colour; the circles formed by the 
 clasping petioles of the leaves being very visible upon it. 
 The fruit ripens only once during the year, at which pe- 
 riod the tree, with its long bunches of orange oval-shaped 
 fruit, pendent from the upper part of the trunk, contrasted 
 by the dark-green foliage, has a beautiful appearance. The 
 Areca-nut, when planted, takes three years to arrive at a 
 sufficient size to produce fruit. Each fruit is about the 
 size of a small hen's egg ; the external covering {sarcocar- 
 pium) is thick and fibrous, which, on being cleared away, 
 shows the nut surrounded by its shell {putamen), often 
 difficult of removal. The nut is conical, but varies, in some 
 having an elevated apex and small base, in others a large 
 base and very slightly elevated apex. 
 
 "Many of the common drinking and baking utensils in 
 the boats, and vessels for holding water, not dissimilar to 
 those made by the Australian natives from the bark of the 
 Gum-trees (Eucali/_pti), are made from the spathe ; it is also 
 
52 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 nailed upon the bottoms of the boats, and I have often seen 
 on this coast, as well as in Java, small bunches of the abor- 
 tive fruit placed as an ornament at the stern and bows of 
 the native boats. 
 
 " The nuts vary in size ; their quality however does not 
 at all depend upon this property, but upon their internal 
 appearance when cut, intimating the quantity of astringent 
 matter contained in them. If the white or medullary por- 
 tion, which intersects the red or astringent part, be small, 
 has assumed a bluish tinge, and the astringent part is very 
 red, the nut is considered of good quality ; but when the 
 medullary portion is in large quantity, the nut is considered 
 more mature, and, not possessing as much astringency, is 
 not esteemed so valuable. 
 
 " The quantity of nuts produced on the coast of Sumatra 
 is stated to be 80,000 piculs."^ When there is no immedi- 
 ate demand for this article, it is not shelled, but preserved 
 in the husk, as it is considered not to be so liable to be de- 
 stroyed by the worm in that state ; but I have seen nuts 
 destroyed totally by the worm, while in the husk, in the space 
 of two months. The produce of the first month or month 
 and a half, amounting usually to 40,000 piculs, the natives 
 
 * One picul = 133i lbs. English. 
 
ARECA. 5-3 
 
 informed me, is exported; and the second gathering, amount- 
 ing to about the same quantity, is consumed in the country/' 
 When speaking of Southern China, the same author 
 says : — " The quantity of Areca-nut imported by the Chi- 
 nese amounts to 45,000 or 48,000 piculs annually, exclu- 
 sive of that brought from Cochin China, the amount of 
 which is not known. In 1832, from a failure of the usual 
 supply of nuts from Cochin China, 48,000 piculs, imported 
 from other places, sold so high as 4f dollars the picul ; the 
 price it usually fetches in the China market is from 2 dol- 
 lars to 3| dollars the picul. The principal consumption of 
 the nut as a masticatory, in conjunction with the leaf called 
 betel, produced from a Pepper-vine (the Piper Bethj Linn.), 
 is in the provinces of Quang-tong (Canton of Europeans), 
 Quang-si, and Che-keang, and it may be seen exposed for 
 sale, on little stalls, about the suburbs of Canton, with the 
 other additional articles used in the preparation ; it is also 
 used as a mordant for coarse dyes. The Areca-nuts brought 
 from Cochin China are considered by the Chinese the best 
 imported. This may however arise from prejudice in fa- 
 vour of a country so nearly allied to them. In the central 
 provinces of Hoo-kwang and Kiang-si, the nut is, after 
 being bruised and pounded, mixed with the green food of 
 
54 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS. 
 
 horses, as a preventive against diarrhoea, to which that kind 
 of food sometimes subjects them. It was likewise mentioned 
 to me by a Chinese, that it is used as a domestic medicine 
 in the north of China, small pieces being boiled, and the 
 decoction administered in various visceral affections. 
 
 " A cargo of this article generates so much heat as to 
 raise the thermometer in the hold of a ship 40° above that 
 on deck ; and from this circumstance, and the quantity of 
 steam generated, the crew are prevented from sleeping be- 
 tween decks. 
 
 " The Areca-nut is commonly known in Southern China 
 by the very prevailing Malay name of 'Pinang or Pino7ig, 
 but in the Acheneese language it is called Penu, and the 
 tree Ba penu. The ripe Areca-nut is called also Pemi massa, 
 and the green, Penu mudr; the Gambir used with the Betel, 
 GamhS ; the Betel-leaf, Pdnu ; and the lime, Gahu ; the to- 
 bacco, Bdlmn. 
 
 "The mastication of the Betel is considered very whole- 
 some by those who are in the habit of using it. It may 
 be so ; but the black appearance it gives to the teeth, al- 
 though it is said to be an excellent preserver of them, to- 
 gether with the brick-red lips and mouth, give anything 
 but an agreeable appearance. Its use certainly does not im- 
 
ARECA. 55 
 
 part additional beauty to the native females, who habituate 
 themselves to an equal extent to those of the opposite sex." 
 
 When in Singapore, I often saw the Malays chewing the 
 Betel-nut, together with gambir, tobacco, lime, and the 
 leaves of the Siri {Pijoer Siriboa, L.), and the Cliinese 
 practising the same filthy habit, with the only difference 
 that they used the foliage of the black pepper {Piper ni- 
 grurrij L.), instead of that of the Siri. This statement how- 
 ever applies only to the Chinese colonists in the island; in 
 the southern parts of the Celestial Empire, the people avail 
 themselves of the leaves of Piper Betle, L. Though the 
 quantity of tannin contained in the Betel-nut must exer- 
 cise an injurious influence, yet it is a mistake to suppose 
 that the mere chewing of it gives to the mouth an offen- 
 sive appearance ; unless the other ingredients are added, the 
 saliva hardly changes its natural colour."^ 
 
 Low, in his ' Borneo,' says : — " The graceful Betel or 
 Areca-nut Palms do not grow in such abundance in Borneo 
 as to form an article of exportation ; on the contrary, large 
 
 * In tHs remark I am fully borne out by Bennett and Blanco, the latter 
 of whom states : " Es digno de notarse que el compuesta de la bonga, del 
 buyo, y de la cal, hace la saliva encamada, y no sucede esto, cuando falta 
 alguna de las tres cosas," 
 
56 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS.* 
 
 quantities are imported ; for, like the Cocoa-nut trees, they 
 were destroyed during the wars which, previous to Sir James 
 Brooke's arrival, desolated the country. The nut is only 
 used for chewing, — a practice universal in the Indian Ar- 
 chipelago. The male flowers are deliciously fragrant ; they 
 are in request for all festive occasions, and are also consi- 
 dered a necessary ingredient in the medicines and charms 
 employed for healing the sick/^ 
 
 Manuel Blanco"^ gives a detailed account of this Palm 
 in the Philippine Islands, in which the following passages 
 occur : — '^ I think the Areca might be used for making 
 red ink, and it is not improbable that it is already thus 
 employed in India. ... In combination with the Alpa- 
 parroso it makes black ink, which however is inferior to 
 that obtained from the Aroma {Acacia Farnesiana, Willd.). 
 The lower part of the petiole, vernacularly termed ' talupac,* 
 is very clean, white, and flexible, and serves for wrapping 
 up things, and for other purposes, on account of which 
 it is sold by the natives. The heart of the leaves is eaten 
 as a salad, and has not a bad flavour; but, gathering it, 
 the tree dies. When the natives are in want of Areca-nuts 
 for chewing they use as a substitute the bark of the Gua- 
 Flora de las Filipiuas/ etc. For Manuel Blanco. Manilla, 1845 ^ 
 
 * c- 
 
AEECA. 57 
 
 yabo [Psidhun Guayaha, Raddi), or that of the Antipolo." 
 The same necessity seems to compel various other Asiatics 
 to have recourse to different other species of Areca ; for 
 instance, the convicts confined on the Andaman Islands use 
 the nuts of Areca laxa, Hamilt.; the Nagas and Abors of 
 eastern Bengal use those of A. Nagensis, Griff.; and the 
 natives of the mountainous districts of Malabar those of 
 A. Bicksoni, Eoxb., instead of those of A. Catechu^ Linn. 
 So much are these people attached to the Betel-nut, that 
 they would rather forego meat and drink than relinquish 
 the mastication of it. They entertain the notion that by 
 means of it the teeth are fastened, the gums cleansed, and 
 the mouth cooled, and tliis notion, unfounded as it is, may 
 in some degree have influenced those Europeans who, of 
 late years, have recommended Areca-nut charcoal as a tooth- 
 powder; at least, so far as we know, it can have no par- 
 ticular value over ordinary charcoal, except perhaps that 
 derived from its greater hardness.^ On account of the 
 
 * It is very doubtful whether any of the extracts called Catechu are derived 
 from Areca Catechu, Linn. Blume (Rumphia, vol. ii. p. 67) denies it alto- 
 gether, and says that the error has arisen frona the circumstance that old 
 and dry Areca-nuts, broken in small pieces, are macerated in rose-water in 
 which Catechu has been dissolved. J. D. Hooker, T. Thomson, and myself 
 have never seen Catechu as prepared from Betel-nuts. Pereira (Elements of 
 
58 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 large quantity of tanuin wliicli these nuts contain, they 
 have been employed in some parts of India for dyeing 
 cotton cloths ; some medical men also consider them useful 
 in cases of dysentery. In Malabar an inebriating lozenge 
 is prepared from the sap of the tree, and in Khasia the 
 natives measure distances, according to Dr. J. D. Hooker's 
 statement, by the number of mouthfuls of Betel-nut chewed 
 on the road. 
 
 The exact native country of the Betel-nut is unknown, 
 but is supposed to be the Sunda Islands; the tree from 
 time immemorial has been extensively cultivated in all parts 
 of the East Indies, so that we are at present unable to trace 
 it back to the spot whence it originally may be supposed 
 
 Materia Medica, vol. ii. part i. p. 1045, ed. iii.), speaking of Areea-nut 
 Cateclin, says : — " In the southern parts of India, and prohably in Ceylon, 
 an extract called Catechu is procured from Areca-nuts. The mode of pre- 
 paring it has been described by Herbert de Jiiger and Heyne. The last- 
 mentioned author states that it is largely procured in Mysore, about Sirah, 
 iu the following manner : — ' Areca-nuts are taken as they come from the 
 tree, and boiled for some hours in an iron vessel. They are then taken out, 
 and the remaining water is inspissated by continued boiling. This process 
 furnishes Kassu, or most stringent Terra Japonica, which is black, and 
 mixed with paddy (rice) husks and other impurities. After the nuts are 
 dried, they are put in a fresh quantity of water, boiled again, and the water, 
 being inspissated, like the former, yields the best or dearest kind of Catechu, 
 called Coury. It is yeUowish-brown, has an earthy fracture, and is free from 
 
ARECA. 59 
 
 to have come. It has also found its way into European 
 gardens, where it is grown, together with Areca alha, Bory, 
 A. sapida, Soland., A. crinitay Mart., A. Madagascariensis, 
 Mart, (from the ashes of which the natives of Madagascar 
 extract salt). A, mmiostachi/ a, 'Mdiit. [Livistonia inermis, YLoxi.j 
 and SeafortJiia prtsmorsay Hort.), ^. ^w^zeY^, Mart. [Phianga 
 Ne7iga, BL), A. rubra, Bory [Euterpe glohosa and E.pisifera, 
 Hort.), and A. triandra, Eoxb., — plants of great beauty, but 
 possessing, except A, sapida, few peculiarities which entitle 
 them to a special notice in a work of such limited extent as 
 the present. A, sapida, Soland. [A. BanJcsii, Mart., A. sa- 
 pida, Banks et Soland., Keatia sapida, Mart.) deserves con- 
 sideration, on account of its being the southernmost of all 
 
 the admixture of foreign bodies.' None of the extracts brought fi-om India, 
 under the denomination of Catechu, are distinguished by any name by which 
 they can be referred to the Areca-nut. It is probable, however, that some 
 of those which come over in the form of round and fiat cakes, and also in 
 balls, and which ai'e more or less covered with paddy husks, are obtained from 
 this seed. A decoction of some of these kinds of Catechu yields, when cold, a 
 blue colour on the addition of iodine, indicating' the presence of starch. The 
 presence of fatty matter in them is considered by Guibom-t to be a proof that 
 the Areca-nut has been employed in their production. I think it is probable 
 that the Colombo or Ceylon Catechu of commerce, in the form of round flat 
 cakes, covered by paddy husks, is the Kassti of Heyne ; and Guibourt is of 
 opinion that the dull reddish Catechu in balls, partially covered by paddy 
 husks, is the Coury of Heyne." Compare also genus Borassus. 
 
60 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Palms, — found in JSTew Zealand as far as latitude 38° 22' 
 south. It isj according to J. D. Hooker (Flora of New Zea- 
 landj vol. ii. p. 261), a small Palm, the trunk of which is 
 from six to ten feet high, and six to eight inches in dia- 
 meter, bearing leaves from four to six feet long, and a gla- 
 brous, much-branched, densely flowered spadix, enclosed in 
 two boat-shaped spathes. It grows principally in the North- 
 ern Island and the north part of the Middle Island, where 
 the natives, who eat the young inflorescence, term it " Ni- 
 kau.'^ As there exists in most works a great deal of con- 
 fusion amongst the synonyms of this plant, I cannot do 
 better than make an extract from the excellent Plora 
 quoted, in which J. D. Hooker has set this perplexing sub- 
 ject, it is to be hoped, finally at rest. "Mr. Allan Cun- 
 ningham has applied to this Palm Endlicher^s description, 
 drawn up from Perdinand Bauer^s drawings of Norfolk 
 Island specimens. This does not agree with the New Zea- 
 land plant in the shape of the drupe, which is said to be 
 globose in the Norfolk Island species. Mr. John Smith, 
 curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, has both in 
 cultivation, and has shown me a very considerable difference 
 in habit and in the breadth of the segments of their leaves, 
 those of the Norfolk Island Palm being twice as broad as 
 

 pjtnga saccbanfera ,Z«j^iZt. tc Napa, irj'jcax.-^ 2104.1 
 
ARENGA. 61 
 
 > 
 
 those of the New Zealand one; but there is great varia- 
 tion in these respects with both species. Dr. von Martins 
 also separates them, but gives Forster^s name to the Nor- 
 folk Island plant, whereas Torster figured the New Zealand 
 one only, to which the name sajnda must remain attached, 
 whilst that of Baueri may be given to the Norfolk Island 
 species, if it should prove really distinct. There is as much 
 difference between the narrow and broad segments of spe- 
 cimens of A. sajnda, growing in Kew Gardens, as between 
 the latter and those of A. Baueri." 
 
 Genus III. ARENGA, La BiUardiere. 
 
 This genus numbers at present, if we exclude the doubtful 
 Arenga Manillensis {Sagiierus Manillensis) of the gardens, 
 five species — A. ohtusifolia, Mart. [Goviutus ohtusifolius, 
 Blume, Sagiierus LangJcah, Blume), A. sacchari/era, LabilL, 
 A. WesterJioutiij Griff., A. IFightii, Griff., and A. Griffithii, 
 Seem.,"^ all of which are handsome trees. Their trunks are 
 
 * I have given this name to the species from the second Kiouk- 
 dweng, or mountain defile, of the Irawaddy, descrihed, but not named, at p. 
 168 of Griffith's ' Palms of British India,' the northernmost species of the 
 genus hitherto discovered, growing in company with Hcematospermum, 
 Billeniay Campanula, and JEsculus. 
 
62 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. * 
 
 ringed, and occasionally decumbent ; their petioles are fur- 
 nished with copious black, rigid fibres, and they are some- 
 times prickly ; their leaves are pinnatisect, the segments of 
 which being linear, often with lobed bases, and more or 
 less toothed and divided apices, and always dark green 
 on the upper, and dirty white on the under surface. All 
 Arengas flower only once during the term of their exist- 
 ence. Their spikes are pendulous, often in bundles like 
 the tail of a horse ; their flowers are large, monoecious, and 
 generally, but not always, in different spadices ; their sta- 
 mens are indefinite, their ovary trilocular, and their fruit, a 
 green and round berry, is depressed and three-cornered at 
 the apex, imperfectly three-lobed and three-seeded. They 
 chiefly inhabit the islands of the Indian Archipelago, but 
 are also met with on the Asiatic continent ; their favourite 
 localities being dense shady forests and the neiglibourhood 
 of rivers and rivulets. 
 
 The genus, though composed of several species, is ren- 
 dered famous by only one — the Arenga saccharifera, La- 
 bill. {Saguencs JRumjildij Eoxb., Borassus GomutiiSj Lour., 
 Gomutus saccJiarifera, Spr.), which occurs in great abundance 
 in a wild state throughout the islands of the Indian Archi- 
 pelago, but is more common in the interior, principally in 
 
ARENGA. 63 
 
 the hilly districts, than on the sea-coast, and it is also very 
 generally cultivated by the various people who inhabit that 
 region. It has been called one of the most useful of all the 
 Palms ; and how well it deserves that epithet may be judged 
 from a perusal of the accounts published by Roxburgh, 
 Grifiith, Marsden, Low, and, above all, by Crawfurd."^ 
 Like all plants enjoying a wide geographical distribution, 
 this tree is distinguished by names as numerous as the 
 languages of the countries which claim it as a member of 
 their flora. With the"usual copiousness of these languages 
 on similar occasions, each useful part of the plant is desig- 
 nated by a special name. In Malay the tree is called Anao 
 [Anowe according to Griffith, and Anmc according to Ben- 
 nett), the Hquor (toddy) obtained from it TmvaJc or JSfera, 
 the soft brown scurf found at the base of the petioles Barum 
 {Baru?), and the horsehair-like material covering the latter 
 Iju (Ejoo or Eju) or Gomuti. It is this last name which 
 some botanists have applied as a generic, others as a spe- 
 cific one to the whole^plant. In Javanese the tree is called 
 Aren, the material like horsehair Bulc (occasionally spelt 
 Boh), the gossamer-like substance Kawiil, and the sap La- 
 gen, which means the sweet material by distinction. In the 
 * History of tlie Indian Arcliipelago. London, 1820. 
 
64 POPULAE HISTORY OP PALMS. * 
 
 Amboynese language the tree is called Nawa, the horsehair- 
 like material Makse. In the Ternati language the tree is 
 called Seho, in the Bali Jahaha, and in the Bima Naun. In 
 the Macassar language the tree is termed 2IoficJiono, the sap 
 or toddy Juro ; and in the Mandar^ the former Akel and 
 the latter Ki. The Portuguese, and other European nations 
 following their example, call the tree and its liquor Sagwire, 
 though no one knows for what reason. 
 
 The Sagwire or Gomuti — we had better adopt the latter 
 name, as being the most euphonious — attains a height of 
 thirty to forty feet, is without spines, and bears a dense 
 crown of pinnatisect leaves, which have rather a sombre 
 aspect; their segments are generally fasciculate, the middle 
 ones five feet long, about four inches broad, linear-ensiform, 
 dark green above, white underneath, with distant spinescent 
 teeth, and a bilobed or bifid, eroso-dentate apex. When very 
 young, they are eaten, Hke those of the American Cabbage 
 Palm {Oreodoxa oleracea, Mart.). The petioles are very 
 stout, and it is at the base of these, and completely embra- 
 cing the trunk of the tree, where the horsehair-like material, 
 which co-operates to render this Palm so valuable, is pro- 
 duced. This fibrous substance, superior in quality, cheap- 
 ness, and durability to that obtained from the husk of the 
 
ARENGA. 65 
 
 Cocoa-nut, and renowned for its power of resisting wet, 
 is used by the natives of the Indian islands for every pur- 
 pose of cordage, domestic and naval, a practice in which 
 Europeans have of late years imitated them. The coarser 
 parts — or " small twigs," as some authors call them — found 
 with this "vegetable horsehair," are used by all the tribes 
 who write on paper as pens, and they are the arrows used 
 by others to discharge, poisoned or otherwise, from blow- 
 pipes or arrow-tubes. Underneath this material is found a 
 substance of a soft gossamer-like texture, which is imported 
 into China. It is applied as oakum in caulking the seams 
 of ships, and more generally as tinder for kindling fire : it 
 is for this latter purpose that it is chiefly in request among 
 the Chinese. 
 
 The substance of the foregoing account of this fibre is 
 chiefly derived from Crawfurd, but he is not the only author 
 who bears testimony of its excellence and value. Marsden, 
 in his 'Sumatra,' says: — "It is bound on as a thatch, in 
 the same manner we do straw, and not unfrequently over 
 the galooivj^^e (bamboo thatch) ; in which case the roof 
 is so durable as never to require renewal, the Ejoo being 
 of all vegetable substances the least prone to decay; and 
 for this reason it is a common practice to wrap a quantity 
 
66 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS, 
 
 of it round the ends of timbers or posts which are to be 
 fixed in the ground. . . . The Ejoo exactly resembles coarse 
 black horsehair, and is used like it, among other purposes, 
 for making ropes, and mixing with mortar/' Low, in his 
 ' Borneo,' whilst corroborating this statement, adds : — 
 " The hairy filaments are plaited by the natives into orna- 
 ments for the arms, legs, and neck, which are more pleasing 
 in their deep black hue and neat appearance (at least to 
 eyes of Europeans), than the beads and brass with which 
 these people are fond of adorning their persons." Bennett, 
 in his ^Wanderings,' also gives a highly favourable de- 
 scription of this fibre, and throws out the suggestion that 
 it may be the same as that called "Cabo negro" by the 
 Spaniards at Manilla. 
 
 The principal production of the Gomuti Palm is the 
 toddy,"^ which, according to Crawfurd, is procured in the 
 following manner: — One of the spadices is, on the first 
 appearance of fruit, beaten on three successive days with- a 
 small stick, with the view of determining the sap to the 
 wounded part. The spadix is then cut off a little way from 
 its root (base), and the liquor which pours out is received 
 in pots of earthenware, in bamboos, or other vessels. The 
 * Derived from the Sanscrit word " Tdde." 
 
ARENGA. 67 
 
 Gomuti Palm is fit to peld toddy when nine or ten years 
 old, and continues to yield it for two years, at the average 
 rate of three quarts a day. When newly drawn the liquor is 
 clear, and in taste resembles fresh must. In a very short 
 time it becomes turbid, whitish, and somewhat acid, and 
 quickly runs into the vinous fermentation, acquiring an in- 
 toxicating quality. In this state great quantities are con- 
 sumed; a still larger quantity is immediately applied to 
 the purpose of yielding sugar. With this view the liquor is 
 boiled to a syrup, and thrown out to cool in small vessels, 
 the form of which it takes, and in this shape it is sold in 
 the markets. This sugar is of a dark colour and greasy 
 consistence, with a peculiar flavour : it is the only sugar 
 used by the native population. The wine of this Palm is 
 also used by the Chinese residing in the Indian Islands in 
 the preparation of the celebrated Batavian arrack. 
 
 In Malacca, the Gomuti, there termed Kabong, is cul- 
 tivated principally for the juice which it yields, for the 
 manufacture of jaggery (sugar). The 'Journal of the In- 
 dian Archipelago' for November, 18-i9, says: — '''Like the 
 Cocoa-nut tree, it comes into bearing after the seventh year. 
 It produces two kinds of mayams or spadices — male and 
 female. The female spadix yields fruit, but no juice, and 
 
68 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. * 
 
 the male vice versa. Some trees will produce five or six 
 female spadices before they yield a single male one, and 
 such trees are considered unprofitable by the toddy collec- 
 tors ; but it is said that in this case they yield sago equal 
 in quality, though not in quantity, to the C^cas circinaUs, 
 although it is not always put to such a requisition by the 
 natives; others will produce only one or two female spa- 
 dices, and the rest male, from each of which the quantity of 
 juice extracted is the same as that obtained from ten cocoa- 
 nut spadices. A single tree will yield in one day sufficient 
 juice for the manufacture of five bundles of jaggery, valued 
 at two cents each. The number of mayams shooting out 
 at any one time may be averaged at two, although three is 
 not an uncommon case. When sickness or other occupa- 
 tion prevents the owner from manufacturing jaggery, the 
 juice is put into a jar, where, in a few days, it is converted 
 into excellent vinegar, equal in strength to that produced 
 by the vinous fermentation of Europe. Each mayam will 
 yield toddy for at least tliree months, often for five, and 
 fresh mayams make their appearance before the old ones 
 are exhausted ; in this way a tree is kept in a state of pro- 
 ductiveness for a number of years, the first mayam open- 
 ing at the top of the stem, the next lower down, and so 
 
AllENGA. 69 
 
 on, until at last it yields one at the bottom of the trunk, 
 with Avhich the tree terminates its existence." The fruit, 
 according to Crawfurd, is about the size of a medlar, and 
 produced in such abundance that a single spadix is more 
 than a load for a man. The fleshy outer covering of the 
 fruit affords a juice of a highly stimulating and corrosive 
 nature, which, when applied to the skin, occasions great 
 pain and inflammation. The inhabitants of the Moluccas 
 were in the practice of using, in their wars, in the defence 
 of posts, a liquor afforded by the maceration of this fruit, 
 which the Dutch appropriately denominated ^^ hell-water.''' 
 The seed, or rather the albumen, freed from this noxious 
 covering, is made into sweetmeat by the Chinese. 
 
 Like the true Sago-palm, continues the last quoted au- 
 thor, the Gomuti affords a medullary matter, from which 
 a farina is prepared. In Java, it is the only source of this 
 substance, which in the western and poorer part of the island 
 is used in considerable quantity, and offered for sale in all 
 the markets. It is smaller in quantity than the pith of 
 the true Sago-tree, more difficult to extract, and inferior in 
 quality ; having a certain peculiar flavour, from which the 
 farina of the true sago is free. 
 
 Griffith, who has given a good description and figure 
 
70 POPULAR HISTOKY OF PALMsT 
 
 of this Palm, says : — " Mr. Lewis informs me that trees 
 that have died after the ripening of the whole crop of fruit, 
 — which is the natural course of events, — are almost hollow, 
 and particularly adapted for making troughs, spouts, or 
 channels for water, and that they last extremely well under- 
 ground. In short, it is so valuable a Palm, that it early at- 
 tracted Dr. Eoxburgh^s attention, who introduced it largely 
 into Hindostan. The natives of Bengal however have 
 never taken to it, preferring the coir of the Cocoa-nut, and 
 the toddy and sugar of Phcenix sylvestns. The following 
 are Dr. Roxburgh^'s words : — ' With respect to the various 
 important uses of this most elegant Palm, I have nothing 
 to offer myself, but refer to what Eumphius and Marsden 
 have written on the subject. At the same time, I cannot 
 avoid recommending to every one who possesses land in 
 India, particularly such as is low and near the coasts, to 
 extend the cultivation thereof as much as possible. The 
 wine itself and the sugar it yields, the black fibres for 
 cables and cordage, and the pith for sago, independent of 
 many other uses, are objects of very great importance. 
 
 " ' From observations made in the Botanic Garden at Cal- 
 cutta, well-grown, thriving trees produce about six leaves 
 annually, and each leaf yields from eight to sixteen ounces 
 
ASTROCARYUM. 7 1 
 
 of the clean fibres. In the same garden there are now (1810) 
 many thousand plants and young trees, some of them 
 of above twenty years' growth, with trunks as thick as a 
 stout man's body, and from twenty to thirty feet high, ex- 
 clusive of foKage. They are in blossom all the year ; one 
 of them was lately cut down, and yielded about 150 lbs. of 
 good sago-meal.' " 
 
 Genus lY. ASTEOCARYUM, G. F. 7F. Meyer, 
 
 " There is no rose without thorns," and, it may be added, 
 no Astrocaryum without spines. Trunk, foliage, fruit-stalks, 
 spathes, and, in some cases, even the fruit of every species 
 of this genus are armed with acute spines. It has been said 
 that thorny- and spiny plants are indicative of a poor soil 
 or an arid climate, but that induction, though holding good 
 as a general rule, is, like all such rules, subject to particu- 
 lar exceptions, and the genus Astrocaryum is one of them. 
 Instead of growing as, according to our rules it ought to do, 
 in a meagre soil, or a country rarely visited by vivifying rains 
 and refreshing dews, it is generally found in moist places, 
 often on the banks of rivers, exposed to occasional floods. 
 
72 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 ill- virgin forest_, luxuriating in rich vegetable mould. Astro- 
 caryiim is composed of about sixteen species, natives of the 
 north-eastern parts of South America, chiefly Brazil. They 
 resemble in habit, as well as in every other respect, the va- 
 rious Acrocomias ; most of them are trees, some attaining 
 the height of forty feet ; and only a fe\A^, as, for instance, 
 A. acaidis, Mart., the Iii of the Brazilians, stemless plants. 
 Their trunks are covered with rings of black or dark brown 
 spines, occasionally afoot long; their leaves, which are ter-. 
 minal, pinnatisect, and have linear, entire segments, of a 
 dark-green above, and generally of a silvery-white under- 
 neath, form a dense crown, from the lower parts of which, 
 generally from the axils of the old decayed leaves, the 
 spathes are developed. The latter, during the flowering 
 season, are in most cases erect, but finally, when the fruit 
 has increased in size and weight, they always hang down ; 
 their flowers, appearing in simple or branched spadices, are 
 yellowish or green ; their drupes are round and oval, of a 
 yellow or orange colour, occasionally agreeably scented, and 
 contain solitary stony seeds. We cultivate in our gardens, 
 as far as I have been able to ascertain, seven species of As- 
 trocaryum, viz. A, aculeatum, G. F. W. Mey., A, Ayri, Mart. 
 {ToxopJioenix aculeatissima, Schott), A. campestre, Mart., A. 
 
ASTROCARYUM. 73 
 
 MurumurUj Mart., A. rodratiim, Hook., A. Tucnma, Mart., 
 and A. vulgare, Mart. 
 
 From the number of spines with which these Palms are 
 clad, they have rather a repulsive aspect, yet nevertheless, 
 and notwithstanding their being " armed to the teeth," it 
 has not prevented man from approaching them, and find- 
 ing out their various useful properties. Adrocaryum vul- 
 gare, Mart. {A. Awarra, Hort.), — every part of which, even 
 the edges of the segments of the leaves, bristles with sharp 
 spines, — is of great importance to the Indians of Brazil, 
 who term it Tucum, and cultivate it in their mandiocca- 
 fields and about their huts, — not for the sake of its fruit, for 
 that is scarcely eatable, but for the sake of its unexpanded 
 leaves, from which they manufacture cordage, superior in 
 fineness, strength, and durability to that procured from the 
 Miriti {Maiiritia Jlexuosa, Linn.), and serving for bow- 
 strings, fisliing-nets, hats, fans, and other purposes where 
 fineness, combined with strength, is required. The Brazi- 
 lians of the Eio Negro and the Upper Amazon make beau- 
 tiful hammocks of Tucum-tliread, knitted by hand into a 
 compact web of so fine a texture as to occupy two persons 
 three or four months in the completion of one hammock. 
 These sell at about £3 each, and when ornamented with 
 
74 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 feather- work borders, at double that sum. Most of them 
 are sent as presents to Eio Janeiro. 
 
 The Tucum has occasionally been confounded with the 
 Tucuma {Astrocanjum Tuciwia, Mart.), to which indeed it 
 is nearly allied, and in company with which it is often seen 
 in the dry forest land {terra jirme) of the Upper Amazon 
 and Eio Negro. The Tucuma is never used for making 
 cordage, but the fleshy part of its fruit is esteemed for food 
 by the Indians, and the stony seeds are turned into rings, 
 "birros" (or knitting pins), and other smaller articles for 
 which bones are employed. Two other species of this 
 genus also produce edible fruit : I mean the Iii {A. acaide, 
 Mart.), an almost stemless Palm inhabiting the Catinga fo- 
 rests of the Upper Eio Negro, and from the outer portion 
 of the leaf-stalks of which the Indians make baskets ; and 
 the Murumurii {A. MurtimurUy Mart.), growing in humid 
 places of the Brazilian forest." The fruit of the latter has — 
 I quote KuntVs description — an agreeable flavour, and, at 
 first, a scent resembling musk, but afterwards that of a 
 melon. TTallace, too, states that the fleshy covering of the 
 fruit is rather juicy, and eatable, but he does not mention 
 the agreeable fras^rance to which the former author alludes : 
 nor does he dwell much upon the partiality of man to this 
 
Pliift- 3. 
 
 rraai*. dci t^ ii'^'_ 
 
 iaj-flhrvTirris I'jni^^ Ccrypaa^^rac^ 
 
 'Liej.''a . i.'.i 
 
 itJii 
 
ASTEOCARYUM. 75 
 
 fruit, but gives instead some account of the high favour in 
 which beasts hold it. " On the Upper Amazon/^ he says, 
 " cattle eat the fruit of the Murumuni, wanderiug about 
 for days in the forests to procure it. The hard stony seeds 
 pass through their bodies undigested, and become thickly 
 scattered over the pastures of that district ; they are so hard 
 that it is almost impossible to break them, except by a 
 powerful blow with a large hammer ; the kernel [cilhumen) 
 is also very hard, nearly approaching to vegetable ivory. 
 Yet pigs are very fond of these seeds, and on one estate on 
 the Upper Amazon, where I was staying, they had scarcely 
 anything to eat, during a part of the year, save those which 
 had already passed through the stomachs of the cows. They 
 might constantly be seen cracking the shell {putameyi) with 
 their powerful jaws, and grinding up the hard kernel, on 
 whicli the teeth of few other animals could make any im- 
 pression. They not only existed on this food, but in some 
 cases actually got fat upon it. 
 
76 POPULAR HISTOllY OF PALMS. 
 
 Genus Y. ATTALEA, Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth. 
 
 Of late years the streets of London have been, in places at 
 least, kept peculiarly neat and clean, by brooms and brushes 
 made of a new material, — those of the machines as well as 
 those employed by hand. If the question is asked, what is 
 this new material, the reply often heard is, ""Whalebone, 
 I suppose." But, no ; it is not of animal, but of vegetable 
 origin. Piassaba,"^ the coarse black fibre of a species of 
 Attalea [A. fumfera, Mart.), a genus composed of about 
 twenty members, ten of which {A. amygdalina, H. et K., A, 
 Butiros, Lodd., A. Cohunej Mart., A, comjjta, Mart., A, coro- 
 nata, Lodd., A. excelsa, Mart., A.funifera, Mart., A. Maripa, 
 Mart., A. sj^eciosa. Mart., and A. sjpectahilis, Mart.) are culti- 
 vated in our gardens ; they are all natives of the American 
 Continent, where they range from the mouth of the La 
 
 * "Wallace has declared the Piassaba to be a species of Leopoldinia. Sir 
 W. J. Hooker (Hook. Journal of Bot. and Kew Misc., vol. i. p. 121), in 
 common with other botanical writers of high repute, consider it as the At- 
 talea funifera of Martins. I have looked upon T^'allace's L. Piassaba as 
 identical with Attalea funifera, as I cannot discover in anything Wallace has 
 written upon the subject, either a positive or a negative proof to lead me 
 to a contrary conclusion. Wallace himself informs us that he neither saw 
 the flower nor the fruit of his new Leopoldinia. ** How," botanists ask, 
 "could he know then that it is a Leopoldinia, and not an Attalea?" 
 
ATT ALE A. 77 
 
 Plata to the British colony of Honduras, but chiefly con- 
 gregate in the neighbourhood of the Amazon and its tribu- 
 taries : their favourite habitat is the forest. They are erect 
 trees, generally of middle size, with thick, irregularly ringed 
 trunks, terminated by a crown of large pinnatisect leaves 
 (between which the spathes appear), yellowish flowers, and 
 ovate or elliptical fruits (drupes), of a brown or greenish- 
 brown colour, each of which contains generally three, but 
 sometimes four or five edible seeds. 
 
 Attalea funifera of Martins {Leojpoldinia Piassaha, Wal- 
 lace, Cocos lapidea, Gsertn., Litliocarpus cocciformis, Targ.- 
 Tozz.), termed by the Brazilians Piassaba, and by the Ye- 
 nezuelians Chiquichiqui, has a very extensive distribution 
 on the eastern side of South America, where it grows in 
 swampy or partially flooded lands on the banks of rivers."^ 
 
 * Wallace, speaking of the distributiou of this Palm, in those parts witn 
 which he is more intimately acquainted, says : — " It grows in swampy or par- 
 tially flooded lands, on the banks of black-water rivers. It is first fomid on the 
 river Padauari, a tributary of the Eio Negro, on its northern side, about four 
 hundred miles above Barra, but the waters of which are not so black as those 
 of the Eio Xegro. The Piassaba is found from near the mouth to more than 
 one hundred miles up, where it ceases. On the banks of the Rio Negro 
 itself not a tree is to be seen. The next river, the Daraha, also contains 
 some. The next two, the Marahiva and Cababuris, are white-water rivers, 
 and have no Piassaba. On the south bank, though aU the rivers have black 
 
78 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS. * 
 
 The trunk reaches twenty to thirty feet in height. The 
 leaves are very large, and their leaflets rigid, but sHghtly 
 drooping at the tips : they form an excellent thatch. The 
 dilated base of the petioles separates, like that of Arenga 
 saccharifera, into a long, coarse fringe, which is collected by 
 the natives, and partly used for home consumption, partly 
 exported to Europe, tied up in bundles of several feet in 
 length, and sold in London at the price of about £14 the 
 ton, under the name of Piassaba [Piagaba) . 
 
 This fibre is an extensive article of commerce in the 
 country where it grows, and it seems to have been used 
 from a very early period to form cables for the canoes na- 
 
 water, there is no Piassaba till we reach the Marie, not far below St. Gabriel. 
 Here it is extensively cut for about one hundred miles up, but there is still 
 none immediately at the mouth, or on the banks of the Rio Negro. The 
 next rivers, the Curicuriari, the great river Uaupes, and the Isanna, though 
 all black waters, have none ; whUe further on, in the Xie, it again appears. 
 On entering Venezuela, it is found on the banks of the Rio Negro, and is 
 abundant all up to its soui-ces, and in the Tend and Atabapo, black-water 
 tributaries of the Orinoco. This seems to be its northern limit, and I cannot 
 heai- of its again appearing in any part of the Amazon or Oriuoco, or its tri- 
 butaries. It is thus entirely restricted to a district about three hundred mUes 
 from north to south, and an equal distance from east to west. I am enabled so 
 exactly to mark out its range from having resided more than two years among 
 people whose principal occupation consisted in obtaining the fibres of this 
 tree"— Wallace's 'Palm Trees,' p. 19. 
 
ATTALEA. 79 
 
 vigating the Amazon : it is well adapted for this purpose, 
 as it is light — the cables made of it not sinking in water — 
 and very durable. It twists firmly into cordage, from the 
 fibres being rough-edged ; and as it is very abundant, and 
 is procured and manufactured by the Indians, ropes made 
 of it are much cheaper than any other kind of cordage. 
 The price in the city of Barra, in June, 1852, was 400 
 reis (one shilling English) for 32 lbs. of the fibre, and 800 
 reis (two shillings) for every inch in circumference of a 
 cable sixty fathoms long, — the standard length they are 
 all made to. Before the independence of Brazil, the Por- 
 tuguese Government had a factory at the mouth of the 
 Paduari, one of the tributaries of the Eio Negro, for the 
 purpose of making these cables, for the use of the Para 
 arsenal, and as a Government monopoly. Until the last few 
 years, the fibre was all manufactured into cordage on the 
 spot; but it is now taken down, in long conical bundles, 
 for exportation from Para to England. It is cut by men, 
 women, and children, from the upper part of the younger 
 trees, so as to secure the freshest fibres ; the taller trees, 
 which have only the old and half-rotten portion 'nithin 
 reach, being left untouched. The trees are much infested 
 by venomous snakes, a species of CraspedocejoJialus, and 
 
80 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 • 
 
 the Indians, when at work, are not unfrequently bitten by 
 them, sometimes with fatal consequences. 
 
 The nuts of the Piassaba are also an article of commerce, 
 long brought to England under the name of " Coquillas." 
 Being excessively hard, beautifully mottled with dark and 
 light brown, and capable of taking a very high polish, they 
 are extensively used for turnery- work, especially in making 
 the handles of bell-pulls, the knobs of walking-sticks and 
 umbrellas, and similar articles. 
 
 Anotlier AUalea, the commercial importance of which 
 has only lately become apparent, is AUalea Cohune of Mar- 
 tins, the northernmost species of the genus. In speaking 
 of this Palm^ Mr. E. Temple, Chief Justice of British Hon- 
 duras, in a letter addressed to Mr. Le jSTeve Forster, dated 
 Belize, April 15, 1854, and published in the 'Journal of 
 the Society of Arts' (vol. ii. no. 81, p. 500), says: — ^^"My 
 chief object in addressing you is to draw your attention, 
 and through you that of the public, to a valuable article 
 of commerce, hitherto much neglected, and growing in 
 Honduras spontaneously, and in profuse abundance ; I 
 allude to the nut of the Cohune Palms. "^ The Cohune 
 resembles in appearance the Cocoa-nut Palm, but it is not 
 * "Written also Cahoun. 
 
ATTALEA. 81 
 
 nearly so high as that tree, and the trunk is considerably 
 thicker. The order and regularity in which it grows is 
 surprising. I have seen rows of it presenting the ap- 
 pearance of having been planted with the greatest care, 
 long avenues which closely resembled the nave and aisles 
 of a cathedral, the arched leaves meeting overhead, and 
 producing an exact imitation of the vaulted roofs, and, 
 if the sun was declining, the horizontal rays, shining at 
 intervals through one side of the avenue, created the splen- 
 did effulgence of the most riclily painted window. 
 
 " This tree bears a fruit about the size of a large hen's 
 e^gj which grows in clusters, each cluster resembling a 
 bunch of grapes. The kernel tastes somewhat Hke that of 
 the cocoa-nut, but is far more oleaginous, and the oil ex- 
 tracted from it is infinitely superior. 'No other oil except 
 that of the cohune and the cocoa-nut is burnt in this coun- 
 try, but a pint of the former will last double the time that 
 the same quantity of the latter will. The Cohune oil con- 
 geals at a temperature of seventy-five degrees. There is no 
 question whatever that if it were known to the public in 
 general it would completely supersede the use of the cocoa- 
 nut oil. 
 
 "Honduras consists principally of two kinds of land; 
 
 G 
 
82 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 the one is called a ' Pine ridge/ the other a ' Cohune ridge/ 
 The former is, generally speaking, sterile and sandy, and 
 but here and there interspersed with patches of greater 
 fertility, ^ green spots' in the midst of a sandy wilderness, 
 the resort of immense herds of deer and antelopes, the flesh 
 of which bears not the least resemblance to the succulent, 
 well-fed venison of England, but is dry, white, stringy, 
 and an utter stranger to fat. This ridge, — densely covered 
 with pines, which are very much more resinous than the 
 red pines of North America, — might yield any quantity of 
 pitch, of an excellent quality, for commercial purposes. The 
 Cohune ridge differs materially from the Pine ridge. The 
 soil of the latter, as I have said, is sandy and unproductive; 
 whereas that of the former is rich and loamy, and possesses 
 every agricultural capability. There is no tropical plant 
 which cannot be grown in great abundance upon these 
 ridges. The Cohune there abounds : for miles and miles 
 you have nothing but forests of it ; and yet with all these 
 trees, bearing 'nuts' from which a most valuable oil can 
 be extracted — ^^an oil for which there would be a ready mar- 
 ket in every town of Europe and America — no one has yet 
 been found to turn them to a profitable account. Not one 
 single bottle of oil has ever been exported to Europe, or 
 
ATTALEA. 83 
 
 elsewhere, as an article of commerce. Over these vast fields 
 of wealth a few old Negro women occasionally wander, pick- 
 ing up tlie nuts which have fallen accidentally to the ground, 
 from which, in their rude and clumsy way, they manufac- 
 ture as much oil, and no more, as will serve to satisfy their 
 personal wants, and purchase for them a few luxuries , such 
 as pickled pork and gin, pipes and tobacco. 
 
 " I should be glad if some enterprising individual would 
 undertake to develope the riches of this country, and es- 
 tablish this new branch of trade. Mahogany and logwood 
 now engross, as they have always done, the entire attention 
 of the merchants settled in Belize ; but a much more pro- 
 fitable, a more certain, and a more durable trade awaits 
 those who have courage and capital to open this new vein 
 of wealth. British Honduras contains numerous navisrable 
 rivers and creeks, and on the banks of all those rivers the 
 Cohune is found in abundance. The river Hondo, the 
 New River, the Northern River, the Belize, the Sibun, 
 Manatee River, Mullin's River, Sette River, Monkey River, 
 Deep River, Golden Stream, Rio Grande, Moho River, and 
 the River Sarstoan, are all navigable, and by these cohune 
 oil could be conveyed from the place where it is manufac- 
 tured to the sea.''^ 
 
# 
 84 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Annexed to this interesting account is a letter from Mr, 
 J. H. Fabeij Crown Surveyor, dated Belize, January 10, 
 1854, containing some valuable observations on the same 
 Palm. It runs as follows: — "By the latest computation 
 the settlement of Honduras contains 37,500 square miles, 
 two-fifths of wliich, I have no hesitation in asserting, are 
 composed of what are commonly called Cohune ridges {Co- 
 rozales in Spanish). These Corozales, or Cohune groves, 
 are mostly along the banks of the rivers, and possess the 
 richest virgin soil : some of them are only a quarter of a 
 mile in depth. The cohune-trees grow at an average dis- 
 tance of fifty yards from one another, thereby forming 
 arches of evergreens, which soften the ardent rays of the 
 tropical sun, and give a grand air to these forests, the 
 silence of which is only broken by the twitter of bright-plu- 
 maged birds, or the solitary cries of some wild mammal 
 roaming in these wildernesses. 
 
 '^ The cohune-trees yield one crop every year ; this crop 
 consists of generally three, and sometimes four, bunches of 
 nuts, as close together as grapes ; the nuts are of the size 
 of a small turkey's q^u^, and on an average there are eight 
 hundred nuts in one bunch. The people here extract the 
 oil from them in the following manner : — when the nuts 
 
ATTALEA. 85 
 
 are wliat they term full, they break, between two stones 
 the shell, which is very hard, then pound the kernel in a 
 wooden mortar; then put the sediment in a boiler with 
 water, and boil it down until all the oil or fat floats ; they 
 skim the oil off, fry it in an iron pot, so as to disengage all 
 the aqueous particles, and then bottle it ; by this process 
 the average yield is one quart bottle of oil from a hundred 
 nuts. With improved machinery more oil can be extracted . 
 and if any one with some capital at his command, and 
 having a- ready market for his produce, would undertake 
 such a manufactory, there is no doubt that the staple article, 
 that is to say nuts, will not be found wanting ; there would 
 always be an abundant supply on hand, because the women 
 and children who live along the banks of the rivers, hav- 
 ing nothing else to do during the dry season, and being 
 certain of a trifling remuneration, would vie with one another 
 to bring to such an establishment the produce of their la- 
 bour, which only consists in gathering the nuts/^ 
 
 These two articles naturally attracted the attention of Mr. 
 G. F. Wilson, the intelligent superintendent of Price^s Pa- 
 tent Candle Company, at Yauxhall, London, who, on the 
 30th October, 1854, addressed a letter, of which the follow- 
 ing is the substance, to the ' Journal of the Society of Arts/ 
 
86 POPULAU HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 He says : — " As the introduction of new fats and oils for 
 manufacturing purposes into England has long been a hobby 
 of mine, I trust that you will not suspect me of any wish to 
 discourage the manufacture of cohune oil, suggested by Mr. 
 Temple, when I repeat that the cohune oil will not be worth 
 more for manufacturing purposes, whether for soap, candles, 
 oil, or grease, than the fine cocoa-nut oil of tlj^e Malabar 
 coast, which comes to England in large quantities. The 
 reason why Mr. Temple finds the oil expressed in Honduras 
 from the cohune nut superior to that of the cocoa-nut, is pro- 
 bably the fact that the cohune-nuts, being small and without 
 milh,'^ would be dried whole, and thus be protected by their 
 brown skin from any risk of mould, which, unless some care 
 and attention is taken during drying, the cocoa-nuts are 
 liable to at the inside, and where broken. These carelessly 
 dried kernels would yield an oil, if not of so low^ a quality 
 
 * What is called, in popular language, the milk of Palm-nuts, is the albumen 
 of the seed in a liquid state, ^Yhich, when the fruit is quite ripe, appears as a 
 solid white or yellowish mass, and is then termed the kernel. The reason 
 why cocoa-nuts have generally such a great quantity of milk is that they are 
 gathered from the trees before they have arrived at maturity, and the reason 
 why the cohune-nuts, of which Mr. Temple speaks, are destitute of milk is 
 that they are collected after they are ripe, indeed after they have fallen from 
 the tree ; compare the two fruits in the same state of growth, and the 
 amount of milk will be found proportionately the same in both. — B. S. 
 
AITALEA. 87 
 
 as that known as Sydney cocoa-nut oil^ at any* rate »ot 
 superior to the lowest quaUty of Ceylon oil, which will not 
 bear comparison with the cohune. As to the question, how 
 to separate the oil from the dried kernel, Mr. Temple must 
 add a to his figure of the steam-power necessary, if a 
 regular mill is to be erected. Some years ago, not being 
 able to obtain from other sources sufficient supplies for our 
 works at Yauxhall, we estabhshed a large mill, with perfect 
 machinery, in Ceylon, but we found that after a time the 
 natives of the Malabar coast, with their rude sort of pestle and 
 mortar, beat us, making better oil, not costing more than 
 ours j the native-made oil being supplied at so near the cost 
 of the quantity of dried kernel required to produce it, as 
 not to leave margin for interest and charges of machinery. 
 There is no fear, for many years to come, of the supply of 
 fats like the cohune being so great as to make their judi- 
 cious extraction an unprofitable business. I should recom- 
 mend a number of Malabar coast mills being tried in the 
 first instance, and, rather than any running into expensive 
 machinery, that a supply of nuts, thoroughly dried, should 
 be tried by the seed-crushers in England. I had a discus- 
 sion with an intelligent gentleman from Yeuezuela, and a 
 South American merchant, on the comparative merits of 
 
88 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMSf 
 
 the Cocoa and Coliune oil, which they knew well, and of 
 which they spoke highly/^ 
 
 To this communication Mr. Temple replied in a letter^ 
 dated Behze, December 15, 1854, and pubhshed in the same 
 Journal (v^ol. iii. p. 159), from which the following is an abs- 
 tract : — ^' Mr. T\'ilson^s letter does not at all discourage 
 me nor cause me in the slightest degree to relax my efforts to 
 make the cohune oil more generally known and used by the 
 public. Notwithstanding Mr. AYilson's opinion respecting 
 the merits of that oil, — without presuming to differ from 
 him upon a subject to which he has devoted so much atten- 
 tion, — from all that I have read, and seen, and heard, I have 
 arrived at the conviction that cohune oil is destined, at no 
 very distant date, to take the highest rank amongst vege- 
 table oils. ^Ir. Wilson (very naturally) forms his opinion 
 from the specimen which was sent to him. But I warned 
 your readers that the specimens forwarded to you were not 
 to be regarded as fair representations of the cohune oil, be- 
 cause they were manufactured in a very imperfect and un- 
 scientific manner; nevertheless, the manager of the British 
 Sperm Candle Company places it — so far as it is applicable 
 to the manufacture of candles — in a higher niche than the 
 best cocoa-nut oil. 
 
ATTALEA. 89 
 
 '' Mr. Wilson says, * The coliune oil will not be found, 
 for manufacturing purposes, whether for soap, candles, oil, 
 or grease, worth more than the fine cocoa-nut oil of the 
 Malabar coast, which comes to this country in large quan- 
 tities/ 
 
 "The general manager of the British Sperm Candle 
 Company gives a practical opinion upon the subject, for, 
 having actually made three candles from the oil which you 
 sent to him, he says, ' I consider the cohune-nut oil supe- 
 rior to cocoa-nut oil for making composition candles, for 
 the odour is more pleasant and the compound is less oily^ 
 [that is, not so liquid]. 'The hest cocoa-nut oil' [including, 
 I presume, the Malabar oil,] 'is now selling in London 
 at 51.?. per cwt., and I think there would be no difficulty 
 in selling the cohune-nut oil at a higher rate in very large 
 quantities.' 
 
 " Now, here are two very different opinions expressed by 
 gentlemen, both of whom are well acquainted with the sub- 
 ject on which they write; and each occupies too high a 
 position to permit us to suppose for an iustant that either 
 of them would give expression to anything but a conscien- 
 tious conviction. The testimony is conflicting. How is 
 it to be reconciled? The manager of the Sperm Candle 
 
90 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. • 
 
 Company founds Lis opinion upon experiment. ^Tr. Wilson 
 would appear to have formed his in the absence of such ex- 
 periment ; at all events^ it is not in evidence that he made 
 any. Under these circumstances I would say, Utrum Jwnim 
 mavis accij^e. 
 
 " But I am content to take the opinion of Mr. Wilson. 
 He says that the cohune oil, for the purposes which he 
 mentions, will not be found to he worth more than the fine 
 cocoa-nut oil of the Malabar coast. From this mode of 
 expression, I think it may be inferred that Mr. Wilson is 
 of opinion, at any rate, that it is icorth as 7nuch. If, then, 
 that be so, — if the cohune oil and the Malabar cocoa-nut 
 oil be placed upon the same footing as regards quality, ^A■ith 
 which can the English market be the most readily and 
 cheaply supplied ? The time occupied in the passage from 
 Malabar to London is, I suppose, from four to five months; 
 the voyage from Honduras to England is performed in six 
 or seven weeks. This circumstance then, I should imagine, 
 must give to the cohune oil what may be termed a collateral 
 advantage over the Malabar cocoa-nut oil, and cceteris pa- 
 ribus must render the former the more desirable commo- 
 dity. 
 
 "Mr. Wilson says, ^The reason why Mr. Temple finds 
 
riaie^ b. 
 
 Cliamaeraps li-'aTrwlis . o-inn 
 
ATTALEA. 91 
 
 the oil expressed in Honduras ' [I am sorry to say it is not 
 expressed^ ^from the cohune palm nut is superior to that 
 from tlie cocoa palm nut is probably this : — The cohune- 
 nuts, being small and without milk, would be dried whole, 
 and thus be protected by their brown skin from any risk 
 of mould, which, unless some care is taken, the cocoa-nuts 
 are liable to at the inside^ and where broken.' This is very 
 valuable testimony in favour of the eohune-nut, and the 
 fact mentioned by Mr. Wilson undoubtedly gives it another 
 advantage over the cocoa-nut. The shell of the cocoa-nut 
 is thin in proportion to its size, and is consequently easily 
 broken. Palling from no^ery great height, its own weight 
 would occasion it to be fractured. Not so with the cohune- 
 nut. The shell of that nut is remarkably hard, and, though 
 probably not thicker than that of the cocoa-nut, the texture 
 is altogether different. Then again, being so much lighter 
 and smaller (the cocoa-nut being the size of a cannon ball, 
 and the cohune-nut not much larger than a hen's Q^^), it is 
 not liable to so many accidents. The shell admits of a most 
 beautiful polish, and is capable of being turned into a great 
 variety of useful and ornamental articles. Mr. Wilson speaks 
 of the milk of the cocoa-nut : I presume he means the water 
 which that nut contains. This water, when the nut is 
 
92 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 taken from the tree early in the morning, and whilst the 
 dew is yet upon it, is a cool and delicious draught. It is 
 slightly effervescent and greatly aperient. The milk is 
 made from the kernel itself, and for this purpose the kernel 
 is grated, a little warm water is poured over it, and the 
 liquid is then filtered through an open cloth. This milk is 
 excellent with cofTee, and indispensable to a curry. 
 
 " But Mr. Wilson gives me more credit than 1 deserve, 
 in supposing that I derive my opinion of the superior 
 merit of the coliune-nut by such a scientific mode of rea- 
 soning as that which he suggests. I will state in a few 
 words why I think that the cohune-nut is, and must be, 
 superior to the cocoa-nut. In the first place, the cocoa-nut 
 tree prefers an arid, sandy soil, — a soil in which nothing 
 else will grow : there it grows spontaneously — there it 
 luxuriates. On the desolate beach, where no other tree or 
 slu'ub of any kind, or patch of green, presents itself to the 
 eye, these trees are seen in groves, their leaves waving 
 in the wind like the nodding plumes of a hearse, and, as 
 the gale sweeps past them, giving utterance to wailing, 
 melancholy, funereal sounds. There is something inde- 
 scribably solemn and ghost-like in the appearance of a 
 large avenue of cocoa-nut trees on the sea-beach by moon- 
 
ATTALEA. 93 
 
 light, more particularly if there be a fresh breeze blowing 
 at the time. The cohiine tree is found only on the most 
 fertile land : it is never to be seen on the sea-coast, nor 
 within eight or nine miles of it. Where this tree grows, 
 there is the richest pasture — there plants and fruits of every 
 variety flourish in great j)rofusion — there you see flowers 
 of surpassing beauty and fragrance- — and there also birds 
 of the brightest plumage. "Well, then, we have it on the 
 authority of Lucretius that ^ex nihilo nihil fit;^ and a 
 greater authority has said, 'Do men gather grapes of 
 thorns, and figs of thistles?' What inference do I draw 
 from this ? Simply, that as the cocoa-nut tree derives its 
 nutriment from a sandy, sterile soil, and the cohune tree 
 receives its sustenance from the richest materials, the fruit 
 of the latter must be very much superior to that of the 
 former.^ This is one reason why I think more highly of 
 the cohune-nut than of the cocoa-nut. There is another : 
 if you chew a portion of the kernel of the cocoa-nut, the 
 flavour is agreeable, and the process of mastication produces 
 in the mouth a lacteous substance. But if you submit the 
 kernel of the cohune-nut to the same dental process, the 
 
 * Science does not counteuance the conclusion here arrived at by Mr, 
 Temple. — B. Seemann. 
 
94 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 result is a positive oil. But the strongest argument in fa- 
 vour of the superiority of the cohuue-nut, is the broad fact 
 that one bottle of the oil extracted from it will burn as long 
 as two bottles of oil made from the cocoa-nut. The trunk 
 of the cocoa-nut is very lofty, and the leaves grow only at 
 the top. The cohune is much shorter, and the leaves com- 
 mence at the root. These leaves, when a tree is cut down, 
 are eagerly devoured by the cattle. It is a singular circum- 
 stance that the bees generally select the top of the cohune 
 trees in which to build their hives and deposit their honey. 
 " Mr. Wilson says that he had a conversation with an 
 intelligent gentleman from Yenezuela, who knew the cohune 
 oil well, and spoke highly of it. If the cohune tree grows 
 in Yenezuela, it is rather remarkable that Humboldt, in his 
 account of that country, makes no mention of it.^ I am 
 glad to find that, through the publicity given to cohune oil 
 by means of your Journal, a demand has already been 
 created for that article. Messrs. Hyde and Company, one 
 
 * Mr. "Wilson did not state that the iutelligent gentleman from Venezuela 
 told him the Cohune grew in that country, but only that he knew it well. 
 It is however not at all unlikely that it is found in Venezuela, as it was met 
 with by me in the latitude of that republic (Isthmus of Panama), and has 
 probably a much more extensive geographical range than we arc at present 
 aware of. Humboldt not mentioning it is no proof that it is not a member 
 
ATTALEA. 95 
 
 of the oldest mercantile houses connected with Honduras, 
 possessing a large capital, and animated by a warm desire 
 to develope the resources of the country, and contribute to 
 its general prosperity, have determined to give their aid to 
 a more extensive and more perfect production of cohune 
 oil. Mr. Travis, the representative • of .that firm, has com- 
 municated to me the following extract from a letter ad- 
 dressed to him by Mr. Hodge : — 
 
 " ' The high price for oil in consequence of the Russian 
 war, has caused a demand for cocoa-nuts and oil, and we 
 have also inquiries for cohune-nuts and oil. As an experi- 
 ment, we have promised to bring here five tons of cohune- 
 nuts in the shell, which please ship in one of our own ves- 
 sels for London. Should it succeed, we shall send machinery 
 for crushing, etc' 
 
 '^Mr. Travis writes to me as follows : — ' We informed them 
 in answer that there were abundance of cohune-nuts, but 
 our difiiculty would be labour, as this country is so thinly 
 
 of the flora of Venezuela, as every botanist knows ; for Humboldt did not 
 remain sufficiently long in Venezuela to be able to wi'ite a complete enume- 
 ration of its flora. All lie and Bonpland could do was to collect a number of 
 plants, which, however great it was, is far inferior to that which has since 
 come to light, by the indefatigable labours of "Wageuer, Karsten, Eduard 
 Otto, Moritz, Warszewicz, Linden, and others. — B. Seemann. 
 
96 POPULAE HISTOllY OF PALMS. 
 
 populated,, and labour high. In time, if the men living on 
 the banks of the rivers were to find that they could always 
 sell the cahoun-nuts in Belize, a steady supply would be 
 obtained, which would increase every year.'' Mr. Sheldon, 
 the head of another mercantile house connected with Hon- 
 duras, has also resolved to try the experiment. He has 
 directed ten tons of nuts to be sent to him. 
 
 "I have sent to England, in order that they may be 
 forwarded to you, ten bottles of cohune oil, which I think 
 will be found to be of a better quality than that previously 
 transmitted. Perhaps you will be good enough to send one 
 of them to Mr. Wilson. But even this oil, not being ar- 
 tistically made, is very far inferior to what it ought to be, 
 and what it would be if it were properly expressed." 
 
 The Cohune is also a native of the Isthmus of Panama, 
 where I often had opportunities of seeing it, and where it is 
 termed "Palma real" and "Corozo gallinazo." Its trunk 
 is about forty feet high, seldom higher ; its leaves are thirty 
 feet long, and each leaflet three feet long : I measured them 
 accurately. Prom the trunk Palm-wine is prepared; the 
 unexpanded leaflets are used for wrapping up cakes of In- 
 dian corn [tortillas) previous to boiling them in water ; the 
 expanded leaves serve as thatch, and play an important 
 
BACTRIS. 97 
 
 part in the religious ceremonies observed on Palm Sunday 
 throughout the country : from the fruit an oil is extracted. 
 All we know of the economical properties of the other 
 species composing the genus Attalea is, that their leaves, 
 like those of most Palms, are used for thatch, and that 
 their seeds are eaten by the natives of the countries in which 
 they grow. The fruit of Attalea excelsa, the Urucuri of 
 the Brazihans, is, according to Wallace, burnt, and the 
 smoke employed to blacken newly-made India-rubber. The 
 kernels of various other species of Attalea, when rubbed in 
 water, form an emulsion, used by the inhabitants of Brazil 
 both externally and internally. 
 
 Genus YI. BACTRIS, Jacquin. 
 
 Bactris, Calamus y CJiamadoreay and Geonoma, the four 
 genera which, numerically, are the largest of the whole 
 order of Palms, are, curiously enough, those of the econo- 
 mical properties of which we know least. Neither the rude 
 savages, who come in almost daily contact with them, and 
 hand down, by means of tradition, the uses which they may 
 happen to discover ; nor the intelligent northern travellers 
 
 H 
 
98 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALM^. 
 
 who have, from time to time, observed them in their native 
 countries, have accumulated much information on those 
 points. More than forty species of Bactris are described 
 in systematic works ; yet out of the whole number, only a 
 few deserve notice on account of their uses to mankind. 
 The trunks of Bactris minor, Jacq., a native of New 
 Granada and the West Indies, produce walking-sticks, 
 occasionally imported into Europe, under the name of To- 
 bago canes ; B. major, Jacq., also an inhabitant of that 
 region, bears an edible fruit, which has a pleasant acid 
 flavour, — a peculiarity it enjoys in common with the Bra- 
 zilian Maraja {B. Maraja, Mart.), — and from it the inhabi- 
 tants prepare a vinous beverage. 
 
 Bactris, like the other genera alluded to, with which it 
 must naturally share the contempt of the utilitarian, grows 
 generally in forests, where it performs the menial office of 
 -underwood. The wspecies composing it are all inhabitants 
 of tropical America, chiefly the eastern parts ; they are 
 mostly only a few feet high ; but some, assuming the cha- 
 racter of trees, attain a height of forty feet, and even more. 
 In many cases they have several trunks, forming thickets 
 difficult to penetrate, especially as all the species are more 
 or less covered with spines ; and the foliage, instead of be- 
 
BORASSUS. 99 
 
 ing, as in most Palms, confined to the top, is scattered over 
 the whole surface of the trunk. The leaves are pinnatisect, 
 and their segments generally linear and entire, but in some 
 instances — for example, in Bactris cari/otcBfoUa, Mart.— 
 delta-shaped and eroso-dentate. The flowers are either axil- 
 lary or terminal, of a dark yellow, green, or rose colour; 
 the drupes are ovate or nearly round, generally of a dark 
 blue, and contain a white pulp enclosing a solitary, black 
 seed. Most members of this genus being small, they are 
 easily accommodated in conservatories ; about twenty are 
 cultivated in Europe."^ 
 
 Genus YII. BOEASSUS, Linnceus. 
 
 Remarkably straight trunks, often seventy feet high, fan- 
 shaped leaves, with spiny petioles, dioecious flowers ap- 
 
 * Hermann "Wendland, in his ' Index/ gives tlie following list of them : — 
 B. acanthocarpa. Mart., B. Caracasana, Lodd., B. caryotcefolia. Mart., B. 
 chatorhachis, !Mart., B. Corozillo, Hort., B. cusjndata (?), Mart., B. Maca- 
 nilla, Hort., B. macracantlia. Mart., B. major, Jacq., B. Maraja, Mart., B. 
 martineziceformis, Hort., B. minax, Miq., B. pallidissima. Mart., B. Poi- 
 teauana, Hort. Paris., jff. 5^^o.y«, Mart.,^. simplicifrons, Mart.,^. Varinensis, 
 Hort., and three other species, not yet determined. 
 
100 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 pearing in the axils of the leafstalks, and large brown, 
 drupes, containing three seeds {pyrencB) each, are the most 
 characteristic features of Borassus, a genus found in Africa 
 and Asia. Little is known of the African species {B. ? 
 uEtUopumy Mart.), wliich grows between the latitude of the 
 Cape de Yerd Islands and Benin, and the young seedlings 
 and fruits of which are eaten; but we possess vast stores 
 of knowledge about the Asiatic species {Borassus flahelli- 
 formis, Linn.), a plant cultivated in our gardens. The 
 terms "vast stores of information" were used advisedly; 
 for so much has been written upon this Palm, that ATilliam 
 Ferguson"^ was able to produce a pamphlet of nearly one 
 hundred closely printed pages on the subject. 
 
 Borassus flahelliformis — best known in the countries in 
 which it abounds by the names of Tal, Tala, Tal gaha, Trin- 
 rajan, Lontar, Palmeira, or Palmyra, — is one of those Palms 
 enjoying the widest geographical distribution. A glance 
 at one of the maps in Berghaus^s or Johnston's Physical 
 Atlas, showing the range of the most remarkable plants, 
 
 * "rhe Palmyra Palm {Borassus fahelliformis). A popular Description 
 f>f the Palm and its products, having special reference to Ceylon. With a 
 valuable Appendix, embracing extracts from nearly every author that has 
 noticed the tree. Illustrated by wood-engravings, etc. By William Fer- 
 suson.' Colombo, 1850. 
 
BOEASSUS. 101 
 
 wiU help to illustrate this fact. There will be found the 
 word Borassiis fldhell'iformis written in a curve beginning 
 on the north-eastern parts of Arabia^ in about 20^^ north 
 latitude and 54° east longitude, extending through the In- 
 dian Ocean and the southern parts of Hindostan, and end- 
 ing in about 20° north, and 93° east, in the Bay of Bengal. 
 The Palmyra is met with on both sides of the Persian Gulf. 
 Immense groves of it are found on the Malabai* coast, ex- 
 tending from Cape Comorin through Travancore, Calicut, 
 Goa, and the Bombay Presidency, on through Gujerat, and 
 up some distance on the banks of the Indus in Scinde. 
 But what are emphatically called the Palmyra regions may 
 be included in a line extending along the Coromandel 
 coast from Cape Comorin to Madras, including the north- 
 ern portion of Ceylon, thus passing through Tinuevelly, 
 Tanjore, Pondicherry, etc., and from Madras all along, 
 taking in a considerable belt of the coast between that and 
 Point Palmyras, and then passing up to Gya on the 85th 
 degree of east longitude, and nearly 25° of north latitude. 
 After that the line should be carried on about due east 
 until it reaches Ava, the capital of Burmah, below which, 
 on the banks of the Irrawaddy, there are immense groves of 
 this Palm. Prom Ava the line should pass down south- 
 
102 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS? 
 
 east, through, the Malayan Peninsula and the Indian 
 Archipelago, including Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Tloris, 
 Ceram, Amboyna, the Molucca Isles, and perhaps the Island 
 of 'New Guinea. The extent of this distribution, in a south- 
 easterly direction, from Arabia, in about 54°, to New Guinea, 
 in about 140° east longitude, is about 86°, — 5160 geogra- 
 phical miles, or about one-fourth of the circumference of 
 the earth ! The Palmyra extends in various parts of Asia 
 to between the 25th and 30th degrees of north latitude; the 
 island of Timor is its southern limit ; so that it may be said 
 that the region of this Palm is situated between 10° south 
 and 30° degrees north latitude, and 54° and 140° east lon- 
 gitude. 
 
 The Palmyra is found in various parts of the mountain 
 districts of Ceylon, including the vicinity of Kandy and of Ba- 
 dulla, at elevations of 1680 and 2450 feet respectively, and 
 having a mean annual temperature of about 74° at the for- 
 mer, and, by calculation of the difference in altitude, a mean 
 annual temperature of 71 4° at the latter. Yet although, 
 as already stated, immense groves of this Palm are met with 
 on the banks of the Irrawaddy, from the sea-coast up to 
 nearly as far as Ava or Amarapoorain Burmah, and as far 
 inland as Gya in Bengal, and in isolated patches through- 
 
BORASSUS. 103 
 
 out Ceylon, still the most congenial places for its deve- 
 lopment are low sandy plains, scarcely elevated above the 
 level of the sea, exposed to the burning sun and the force 
 of at least one of the monsoons. Such are Jaffna, with the 
 surrounding islands, and other portions of the northern pro- 
 vince of Ceylon ; such the district of Tinnevelly, with por- 
 tions of the Madura Collectorate ; portions of the Madras 
 and Bombay Presidencies, and of the Indian Archipelago. 
 
 An estimate may be formed of the number of Palmyras 
 existing on the globe by Perguson's calculation of those 
 living in the Jaffna peninsula and the islands adjacent. He 
 says : — " The area of Jaffna peninsula and the islands is 
 about seven hundred square miles : I think we may safely 
 assume that one-fourteenth of this surface is covered with 
 Palmyras. If so, fifty square miles, equal to 32,000 acres, at 
 the moderate average of two hundred to an acre (according 
 to my calculation, three hundred trees can be planted on an 
 acre), would give a total of 6,400,000 trees ; the popula- 
 tion being 200,000, this estimate, if correct, gives thirty- 
 two trees for each individual person."" 
 
 Pew trees are better adapted for sheltering animals than 
 the Palmyras, and hence they are resorted to by birds 
 at night, and by rats, squirrels, mongooses, monkeys, ma- 
 
104 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALilS* 
 
 ranajas [Felis Fivenina,) etc., during the daytime. "When 
 a tree has its old leaves undisturbed^ the number of bats 
 sometimes found occupying it is incredibly great. The 
 grooves of the petiole, and the whole construction of the 
 leaves, are well adapted for conveying the rain ; and every- 
 thing falling upon the foliage towards the trunk of the 
 tree, "gives nourishment, especially on trees in a wild or 
 unpruned state, to numerous species of epiphytical plants, 
 orchids, ferns, figs, etc. In Ceylon an Orchid, termed by 
 the natives Parang Catate, often encircles the trunk at va- 
 rious heights, displaying beautiful tassels of pink-coloured 
 flowers. But the most generally conspicuous and interest- 
 ing union of the Palmyra with other plants is that formed 
 with ten or twelve species of fig, including the Bogaha 
 [Fia's rellgioscij Linn.), the Gan-Attika {F. glomerataj 
 Eoxb.), and the Xuga-gaha. the true Banyan-tree of the 
 English [F. Lidica, Linn.). In Ceylon and India Proper 
 many of these united trees are met with. There is especially 
 one remarkable specimen of a Banyan having two or three 
 Palmyra trees growing in it, at Kaythady, four or five miles 
 from Jaffna, on the road to Chavagacherry, which covers 
 one and one-twelfth acre of ground. This is perhaps the 
 largest Banyan-tree in Ceylon, and a favourite resort for 
 
Plate 7 
 
 ^liUis .XCTl 
 
 OCO& Tiucirera, _"i'. 
 
BORASSUS. 105 
 
 pleasure parties from Jaffna. It probably commenced its 
 existence in the leaves of one of the Palmyras^, the coronets 
 of which now surmount its foliage and thousand stem-like 
 aerial roots. The knowledge we possess of the way in 
 which these unions originate warrants us in presupposing 
 this; for, when the fruits of the Banyan are ripe, various 
 species of birds flock to eat them, and these, when they 
 alight on the Palmyras, drop the seeds in the axils of the 
 leaves, where they germinate and extend their roots, so as 
 in time to embrace the parent Palmyra, except its upper 
 parts. The top of very old Palmyras is just seen issuing 
 from the stem of the Banyan, as if it grew from there, 
 whereas it runs down through the centre, and has its roots 
 in the ground, the Palm being the oldest. Por such a 
 union the Hindoos entertain a religious veneration, saying 
 it is a holy marriage, instituted by Providence. 
 
 The number of uses for which the Palmyra is employed, 
 may be said to be almost infinite ; indeed one of the eastern 
 languages, the Tamil, spoken in a portion of the region 
 which the tree acknowledges as its native country, possesses 
 a poem, entitled ^ Tala Yilasam,' enumerating no fewer than 
 801 different purposes to which the Palmyra may be applied, 
 and this poem by no means exhausts the catalogue. The 
 
106 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALM^ 
 
 roots are perliaps the only parts of the plant to be regarded 
 as worthless in an economic point of view ; that is, if we 
 reject the information of the natives, according to whom 
 their sap, as well as that of the trunk, is used to cure 
 sores created by the " falling of spittle," and also in cases 
 of dysentery. The young plants, namely those about two 
 or three months old, called Kelingoos in Ceylon, are an 
 article of food, and cultivated for that purpose ; the seeds 
 being sown in six to eight layers, under loose sandy soil. 
 These Kelingoos, if not eaten fresh, are deprived of the 
 parchment-like covering in which they are enveloped, dried 
 in the sun, and thus kept for future use. Those dried in 
 this manner are, when raw, emphatically called Odials ; and 
 after they are boiled, Poolooc Odials. It is the former 
 which, reduced to flour or meal, serve for the preparation 
 of the favourite Cool, or gruel of the Singalese. The 
 Kelingoos roasted, boiled, or cut into sHps and fried like 
 those of the Bread-fruit, are eaten by the natives of Cey- 
 lon, and are to be found in the bazaars of Colombo and 
 other parts of the island throughout the year. It is of the 
 Odials, according to Bennett, that the flour, once so prized 
 by the Dutch, is made : I say, once so prized, for at the 
 present day we never hear of its being sent to the Cape of 
 
BORASSUS. 107 
 
 , Good Hope, Holland, or any other countries inhabited by 
 the Dutch. The Singalese also prepare a dish called Putoo, 
 considered a great delicacy, of the Kelingoo flour. To the 
 meal is added a little water, some prawns or small fish, 
 scrapings of cocoa-nut kernels, unripe Jack-fruit (the pro- 
 duce' of Artocarpus integrifolia) , etc. ; this mixture is put 
 into an ola {^i.e. Palmyra-leaf) basket, placed on the top 
 of a pot of boiling water, covered over^with a chatty, and 
 cooked by the steam. Putoo is occasionally eaten with rice 
 as a curry, and also with jaggery (or Palm-sugar). 
 
 A full-grown Palmyra is from sixty to seventy feet high ; 
 its trunk at the bottom is about five and a half feet, at the 
 top two and a half feet, in circumference. Its wood is 
 favourably known in Ceylon and the maritime ports of 
 India. Large quantities of it are exported from Point 
 Pedro and other parts of Jaffna to Madras and Colombo. 
 At certain seasons of the year, the felling, splitting, dress- 
 ing and exporting of it give work to thousands of the 
 Tamil people of the northern peninsula of Ceylon. The 
 trees have to arrive at a considerable age before they are 
 of use for timber; when a hundred years old, they are 
 excellent ; but it is a well-known fact, that the older they 
 get, the harder and blacker does the wood become. Its 
 
108 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALM^. 
 
 durability has also been well tested : there being doubtless 
 many buildings in Ceylon which have rafters more than a 
 century old. Its specific gra\dty is, according to Mr. Men- 
 disj sixty-five pounds per solid foot. Pillars and posts for 
 the verandahs of the houses, well-spweeps, etc., are made of 
 this timber. In the sandy parts of Jaffna, where water is 
 found near the surface, and where, from the strong winds 
 and other causes, the wells are liable to be filled up, a hol- 
 lowed part of the trunk of a Palmyra is inserted, and forms 
 a well, from wliich many a thirsty traveller refreshes himself. 
 Palmyra trunks split into halves, with the heart scooped 
 out, are used as spouts for various purposes, but more espe- 
 cially for carrying away the water from the eaves of houses. 
 The thick parts of the trunks are generally taken for rafters, 
 the thinner or tops for reepers (latlis). The trunks of young 
 trees or the tops of old ones are often cut into pieces, spht, 
 and placed where game is plentiful, as in the Patchelepalla 
 district of Jaffna. The wild hogs and hares are very fond 
 of the soft, white, spongy hearts of the logs, and in resort- 
 ing to them to eat, are frequently shot by the natives. The 
 dark outside wood of very old trees is used to some extent in 
 Europe for umbrella-handles, walking canes, paper rulers, 
 fancy boxes, wafer- stamps, and other articles. The work- 
 
BORASSUS. 109 
 
 man operating on this wood has to be extremely careful, as 
 when split some of the wiry fibres get loose, and are apt to 
 run under the nails of his fingers, or into the flesh of his 
 hand. It is stated that that side of the trunk exposed to 
 the south wind is the thickest, hardest, and best. The 
 natives, if not quite certain of the age or quality of the 
 trees to be felled, often cut a notch in the trunks near the 
 ground, to see how far the black wood extends, a test which 
 in most instances holds good. From the wound thus made, 
 a large quantity of sap frequently runs, which must not be 
 confounded with the toddy obtained from the spathes ; it 
 forms a slimy, useless jelly on the tree, and is not, as has 
 been asserted, the bdellium. Eumphius, whose authority 
 is generally quoted to cover this mistake, has not written a 
 word which could support such a statement, — a statement, 
 as Ferguson justly remarks, as preposterous as the supposi- 
 tion that Areca Catec/iu yields the catechu of commerce. 
 
 But to return to the timber. It is well known in India 
 that the female tree produces the best and hardest, and that 
 that of the male, notwithstanding Eumphius' assertion to the 
 contrary, is considered so inferior that, ^unless the trees are 
 very old, it is never used. Buyers and sellers of the Palmyra 
 rafters should always choose the blackest and heaviest, but 
 
110 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS. 
 
 bear in mind that the natives add weight and colour to the 
 white rafters of young trees and those of male ones, by 
 steeping them in salt water. If there is any suspicion that 
 such a fraud has been practised, an adze or axe should be 
 used. If the timber is good, it will be found very hard, and 
 fly away in chips, displapng the ends of the dark wiry 
 fibres thickly packed together : if bad, or if it has under- 
 gone the " salt-water cure," it will be found soft and spongy, 
 with the fibres far apart, and the other parts composed of 
 fecula or farina like sago. Vessels are never built exclu- 
 sively of Palmyra wood ; they would be too heavy to float 
 with a cargo, but the rails or bulwarks and the roofs or 
 decks of Dhonies are often made of it. In Jaffna, where 
 Palmyras are plentiful, they sell at from three shiUings to 
 six shillings each ; a single tree will yield from three to four 
 rafters, and if cut entirely into reepers (laths), the number 
 is fifteen. One hundred rafters, sixteen cubits in length, 
 sell at Colombo for about £17. 10s. 
 
 The trunk is generally simple, but occasionally it is more 
 or less divided. Perguson says : — " The first of such trees 
 I saw had four heads then upon it, but with marks where 
 three or four others had been. These divisions began about 
 twenty-five or thirty feet from the ground. I noticed one 
 
BORASSUS. Ill 
 
 near Oodooville with six heads on it. One of them grew 
 nearly in a line with the body of the tree, while the other 
 five formed a whorl, but bending somewhat outward before 
 they could attain their upright posture. There were marks 
 where other three had been. The Palm-tree mentioned by 
 Forbes in his ^Oriental Memoirs/ as having about forty 
 heads, was probably a Palmyra." 
 
 The leaves (or olas), on trees in the jungle, or at a dis- 
 tance from human habitations, will be found extending until 
 the tree attains a height of twenty-five to forty feet from 
 bottom to top, the older ones displapng their stalks only, 
 the blade or fan part having rotted away. A tree thus 
 armed with the silicious and serrated edges of the petioles 
 (which latter are from three to four feet long) is a formid- 
 able object to encounter, as he who has to ride through 
 groves of them readily admits ; a Tamil proverb says, " What 
 he saw was a snake, but what bit him was a Palmyra leaf." 
 The foliage is distributed on the trunk in three spiral rows, 
 beautifully ascending from right to left in some, and from 
 left to right in others. The blade of the leaf has from 
 seventy to eighty rays, diverging from the end of the stalk 
 in nearly an entire circle, but are not able, from the breadth 
 of the leaf, to spread horizontally, thus giving a section of 
 
112 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 the leaf a serpentine form. Each tree has from twenty-five 
 to forty fresh green leaves upon it at a time, and of these 
 the natives frequently cut off twelve or fifteen annually, or 
 a greater number once in two years, to be devoted to vari- 
 ous purposes, as well as with the view to enable the fruit 
 to ripen and increase in size. 
 
 "When the leaves are intended for thatch, or for making 
 fences, they are placed flat on the ground in layers over each 
 other, and often with weight upon them, to assist in the 
 process of flattening them. The thatch formed of them does 
 not last longer than two years, nor is it so handsome as that 
 made from the plaited Cocoa-nut leaves. They make very 
 close and elegant fences. In Jaffna, and doubtless in India, 
 the blades of the leaves are put into the ground of the rice- 
 fields until they rot off, and thus yield an excellent manure, 
 giving a quantity of siliceous and other matter to the soil. 
 Mats are made of Palmyra leaves, and are used instead of 
 carpets on floors, for ceilings, for drying coffee and punatoo 
 upon, and for packing cliilies and' other articles of exporta- 
 tion. A Tamil proverb says, " Witchcraft is the easiest of all 
 arts, and Ola Barkel the easiest of all plait.'^ Bags, baskets, 
 water-baskets (employed in irrigation), winnows, hats and 
 caps (the latter are worn, for instance, by the Catamaran 
 
BOHASSUS, 113 
 
 men at Madras), fans, umbrellas, etc., — all are made of these 
 leaves. But one of the most singular purposes to which 
 they are devoted is that of writing upon. The oldest Hin- 
 doo author who mentions writing on Olas is Panniny-rishee. 
 He lived, according to Hindoo reckoning, about the year 
 790 of the Caliyugam, or about 4160 years ago, and resided 
 at Arittuwarum, near the source of the Ganges. Phnv 
 (lib. xiii. cap. 2) says expressly that the most ancient way of 
 writing was upon the leaves of Palms. Indeed, that such 
 was the case with those of Palms, as weU as other plants, 
 admits of no doubt, and hence, it is believed, the leaf of a 
 book came to be synonymous with that of a plant. The 
 leaves of the Palmyra are not the only ones used for 'Writing 
 upon in India ; those of the Cocoa-nut tree {Cocos niicifera, 
 Linn.) and those of the Talipot [Conjplia mnbracidifera, 
 Linn.) serve the same purpose. Palm-leaves, when they 
 are prepared to receive the impression of the stylus, are 
 called Ollalis. The natives write letters upon them, which, 
 neatly rolled up, and sometimes sealed with a little gum- 
 lac, pass through the post-office. During the operation of 
 writing, the leaf is supported by the left-hand, and the let- 
 ters scratched upon the surface with the stylus. Instead 
 of moving towards the right the hand which performs the 
 
 I 
 
114) POPULAR HISTORY OE PALMS. 
 
 writing, the leaf is moved in a contrary direction, by means 
 of the thumb. To render the characters more legible, the 
 engraved lines are frequently filled by smearing the leaves 
 with fresh cow- dung, which is tinged black by rubbing the 
 lines over with Cocoa-nut oil, or a mixture of oil^ and 
 charcoal-powder. The Palmyra books are never much be- 
 yond two feet in length and two inches in breadth, as the 
 parchment-like webs between the little ribs will not admit 
 of their increase in size. The statements respecting the age 
 of Palmyra manuscript-books are conflicting : whilst some 
 authors attempt to prove that they do not last longer than 
 a century, others are ready to show that they may be pre- 
 served for four or five hundred years. 
 
 The male and female flowers of the Palmyra are generally 
 produced on two different trees (dioecious), but sometimes, 
 as in the case stated by Perguson, they are found upon one 
 individual tree (monoecious). The difference of sexes in 
 the trees is not observable until the inflorescence has ap- 
 
 * Mr. G. H. K. Thwaites, the intelligent Superintendent of the Royal Bo- 
 tanic Gardens, Peradenia, has sent to the Museum of Economic Botany at 
 Kew a specimen of oil, called " Doommale Tel," and distilled from the Doom- 
 male resin, which is dug out of swampy places, in which at present no trees 
 grow. " This oil," he says, "is used by the Cingalese for making legible the 
 writing on the Palmyra-leaf, by rubbing it on with a burnt rag." 
 
BOEASSUS. 115 
 
 peared. The appearance of this organ, about the twelfth or 
 fifteenth year after the trees have been planted, marks an 
 epoch in the life of the Palmyras. They may be said to 
 have come of age, and henceforward begin to play an im- 
 portant part in the domestic economy of the natives. They 
 now yield toddy, a beverage almost as famous for its use 
 as notorious for its abuse, and obtained by a very singular 
 process. 
 
 At the season when the inflorescence begins to appear, 
 and before the spathes have had time to burst, the toddij- 
 dratver is at work in the Palmyra groves. His practised 
 eye soon fixes on those trees fit for the " scalping-knife,^^ 
 and if they have not dropped the footstalks of the leaves, 
 the first operation, if the trees are valuable, is to wrench 
 them ofP. This done, the toddy-drawer, armed -ttith his 
 leathern protector for his breast, his raceme-batten of wood, 
 his small thongs, straight and crooked knives, with the side 
 leather-pouch to contain them, procures a piece of tough 
 jungle vine, or a strip of the stalk of a young Palmyra or 
 Cocoa-nut tree, which he converts into a sort of loop, of 
 such dimensions as to admit of his feet getting through to 
 a space large enough to allow them to clasp the tree. This 
 done, he puts his feet in this thong, stands close to the tree, 
 
116 POPULAE HISTORY OP PALM^ 
 
 stretches himself at full lengthy clasps it with liis hancls_, and 
 polls his feet up as close to his arms as possible ; again he 
 slides up his hands^ and repeats the same process^ until, by 
 a species of screw-process, he ascends to the summit of the 
 tree. When the trees are high, use is occasionally made of 
 hoops, of the same material as that of the thong, large 
 enough to encircle both the tree and the toddy-drawer, 
 so that it affords always a support to the body while the 
 climber is in the act of taking a fresh grasp. Arrived 
 at the summit, amongst the leaves, the toddy-drawer lays 
 his climbing apparatus across a leafstalk, and commences 
 the pruning and phlebotomy. Leaving one or two of the 
 lower leaves as a support for his own body until the opera- 
 tion he is about to perform is completed, he frees the tree, 
 by means of a crooked knife (on a small scale resembling 
 a reaping-hook), of all the accumulated dirt, and cuts off all 
 the leaves, except three or four and the top bud of the tree. 
 Besides the removal of all this, the crooked knife is now 
 used in shearing off the outer covering of that part of the 
 tree from which spring the foliage and inflorescence. The 
 various spathes are supported during this operation by being 
 tied up by several thongs to the footstalks of the uncut 
 leaves. The pruning having been completed, all or most 
 
BORASSUS. 117 
 
 of the spatlies are effectually encompassed from end to end 
 by thongs, to prevent the inflorescence from bursting forth. 
 Tims tied, they are beaten and crushed between the wooden 
 battens. This operation is repeated for three successive 
 mornings, and on each of the following four a thin slice is 
 cut from the points of the spathes ; and all this is done in 
 order to keep them from bursting and to encourage the 
 flow of sap. On the eighth morning a clear, sweet liquor 
 begins to flow from the wounded parts, which is indicated 
 by the toddy-birds {Artamns uscus /) and crows fighting and 
 chattering among the trees. The toddy-drawer then as- 
 cends again in the morning with chatties, or toddy-receivers, 
 in wliich he places the ends of the spathes, and leaves them 
 until the evening, when they are found to contain a quan- 
 tity of this liquor. The operation of attracting the juice 
 is repeated every morning and evening, or in the mornings 
 only, until the whole spathe is sliced away. The trees are 
 drained in this manner for several months in the year ; but 
 it is said, that if the operation is repeated on the same tree 
 three successive years, without allowing any of the spathes 
 to burst, the trees die. According to Mrs. Tucker, a spathe 
 continues to give toddy for five months; and while it is sel- 
 dom that three spathes are yielding toddy on the Cocoa-nut 
 
118 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALII^. 
 
 tree, seven or eight will yield juice at once on the Palmyra. 
 An expert climber can draw toddy from about forty trees 
 in a few hours. In Jaffna a distinction is made between 
 " toddy '''' and " sweet toddy -" the former, called by the Ta- 
 mils ^^ culloo/' is the fermented, the latter the unfermented 
 juice. It is amusing to notice the various comparisons to 
 which toddy, in general, has given rise. Sir William Jones 
 compares it, fresh from the tree, to Poubon water, fresh 
 from the fountain, or to the best mild champagne ; Mal- 
 colm, the American, associates its taste with his native 
 cider ; while Johnson, a traveller in Abyssinia, ranks it no 
 higher than ginger-beer ! It is possible that it bears a cer- 
 tain resemblance to all three, and indeed a good deal of the 
 Ceylon ginger-beer is made from toddy. The result of 
 partaking of it early in the morning is, upon most constitu- 
 tions, a listless, drowsy sensation, much the same as that of 
 beer when drunk in the heat of the day, — of course, only 
 within the tropics. 
 
 Toddy serves extensively as yeast, and throughout Ceylon 
 no other is employed by the bakers ; large quantities of it are 
 also converted into vinegar, used for pickling gherkins, limes, 
 the undeveloped leaves of the Cocoa-nut and Palmyra trees, 
 and other substances; but by far the greatest quantity is 
 
BORASSUS. 119 
 
 boiled down for jaggerv or sugar. ^ It appears that in the 
 time of Menu, upwards of four thousand years ago, the 
 Hindoos knew how to raake sugar from the flowers of the 
 Madhuca [Bassia latifoUa, Roxb.), and this being the case, 
 there is reason to suppose that sugar was made from some 
 of the Palms at a much earlier period. Sugar-candy is al- 
 luded to by !^[egasthenes under the name of " Indian-stone ;" 
 and to this day, the crystals formed either by jaggery or the 
 juice of the sugar-cane, are called '^ cat candoo,^^ or stone- 
 sugar. The common Indian name for the finer sorts of 
 sugar is " Cheenee," and has been supposed to point to 
 the Chinese origin of the production. Be that as it may, it 
 seems certain that sugar, in various shapes, was used by the 
 people of India at a very remote period of history. 
 
 The usual processof making jaggery, as pursued at Jaffna, is 
 very simple: — The "sweet toddy ^^ is boiled until it becomes 
 a thick syrup, when a small quantity of scraped Cocoa-nut 
 is thrown in, to ascertain, by the feel, whether the syrup has 
 attained the proper consistency; if that be the case, it is 
 poured into small baskets of Palmyra leaf, in which it cools 
 and hardens into jaggery, and is either kept for home con- 
 
 * Both these words are derived from the Sanscrit Sakar, whence also 
 the Arabic S/ikar, the Latin Saccharum, the German Zucker, etc. 
 
120 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALM»w 
 
 sumption^ sent coastwise to Columbo, or shipped beyond 
 sea to be refined. In the year ending January 5th, 1850, 
 the total export of jaggery from Ceylon was 9580 cwts., 
 bearing a custom valuation of £1937, fully two-thirds of 
 which consisted of the produce of the Palmyra. To make 
 vellum^ or crystallized jaggery, used for medicinal purposes, 
 the process is nearly the same as that just described, only 
 the syrup is not boiled for so long a time. The pot which 
 contains it is covered, and put aside for some montlis, at 
 the end of which period the crystals are found in abundance. 
 The juice of the Palmyra possesses a greater quantity of sac- 
 charine matter than that of most other Palms ; about three 
 quarts of it suffice for boiling into 1 lb. of jaggery. The chief 
 fault of the jaggery made at Jaffna seems to arise from the 
 superabundant application of lime, a small quantity of which 
 is of course absolutely necessary to prevent fermentation. 
 Jaggery, according to Malcolm and Crawfard, forms an ar- 
 ticle of commerce from the upper and lower provinces of 
 Burmah. In Sawnu, when the crops fail, the inhabitants 
 derive subsistence from jaggery; and the people of Timur 
 depend, during part of the year, chiefly upon it as their 
 principal article of food. It is stated that sugar which is 
 chiefly the produce of the Palmyra, is more granulated and 
 
Plar. 
 
 CopeiTiicisL cenfera , Mur: 
 
BOEASSUS. 121 
 
 higher prized than that obtained from the sugar-cane, and 
 that large quantities of it are imported from Madras and 
 Cuddalore into Europe. The export of sugar from Madras 
 is about nine thousand tons annually, and a considerable 
 proportion of that is supposed to be the produce of the Pal- 
 myra. 
 
 The fruits of the Palmyra vary, in different trees, in form, 
 colour, smell, and taste, and are classified by the natives in 
 several varieties, each of which bears a distinct name. The 
 fruit, when it falls ripe from the trees, is sometimes eaten 
 raw, but it is more generally roasted; and the scene ex- 
 hibited at such a roasting-feast is one of the most purely 
 oriental that can well be witnessed. TThen at hand, the 
 shade of an Illipe [Bassia longifolia) , of a Margosa [Melia 
 AzadiracJita) , or Tamarind [Tamarinclus Indica), is chosen ; 
 a fire lighted, and the party of natives — men, women, chil- 
 dren — squat around it, sucking the pulp out of the fibres 
 of the fruits roasted, tearing them asunder with nails and 
 teeth in the most approved and natural style, — all appearing 
 wrapped in the highest possible state of ahmentive enjoy- 
 ment. This jelly, or pulp, resembles mashed carrots, but is 
 a Httle darker. The period during which the fruits are ob- 
 tained being short, and a greater number ripening than the 
 
122 POPULAE HISTOEY OF PALMS# 
 
 inhabitants can consume, Punatoo, or preserved pulp, is 
 made. Europeans seldom eat it ; but when the Dutch had 
 possession of Ceylon, they used tcT consider it such a great 
 dainty, that quantities of punatoo, preserved in sugar, were 
 exported as presents to residents at Java and Holland. Pu- 
 natoo is made in the following manner : — Pandals (stages) 
 are constructed within four or five feet of the ground, and 
 on these mats of Palmyra leaf are spread ; the ripe fruits 
 are then taken, torn up, put into ola baskets containing 
 fresh water, and are then squeezed until the pulp, with the 
 water, forms a jelly; layers of this jelly are spread on the 
 mats to dry. This process is repeated for fifteen or eighteen 
 days, one layer being deposited above the other, until they 
 amount to about fifteen, or attain to about half an inch in 
 thickness; the mats are exposed to the sun to dry, being 
 covered at night and protected from rain and dew. Fer- 
 guson remarks that he has seen this process carried on, in 
 a dry season, at Ittavil, in Patchelapalla (Ceylon), until the 
 wells in the neighbourhood were nearly exhausted. Punatoo 
 is sold by the mat^ at three shillings to six shillings each 
 (about a thousand fruits being sufficient for a mat), or in 
 square cubits; it is the chief food of the poorer inhabitants 
 of the peninsula of Jaffna for several months of tlie year. 
 
^BOHASSUS. 123 
 
 In the 'Thala Yilasam' its taste is compared to honey, milk, 
 and sugar ; but Ferguson, who has eaten this famous com- 
 pound, does not deem it particularly agreeable. It is pre- 
 served in ola baskets or bags, by being hung up in the 
 smoke, and is generally consumed, plain or mixed, with 
 gruel made from the pounded farina of the Kelingoos, or 
 young Palm}Ta plants, and with Cocoa-nut kernel ; it also 
 enters largely into the composition of soups, puffs, cakes, 
 etc., and various other preparations. 
 
 It is not exactly the wholesomeness or the nourishing 
 qualities of the edible products of the Palmyra which renders 
 the tree so important to the inhabitants of India, but simply 
 the fact that thousands, perhaps millions, of the people can 
 procure them from their own groves, or purchase them at a 
 low rate from their neighbours, while rice and other articles 
 of food are frequently so expensive that they are beyond their 
 means. The Palmyra is, in this respect, what the potato is 
 to the poorer Irish or Scotch. The Palmyra yields perhaps 
 one-fourth part of the food of about 250,000 inhabitants of 
 the northern province of Ceylon ; while it, no doubt, forms 
 the chief support of six or seven millions of the inhabit- 
 ants of India and other parts of Asia, — thus proving itself 
 one of the most important plants on earth, rivalling the 
 
124 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMSf 
 
 Date-tree, and ranking only below the Cocoa-nut Palm in 
 usefulness."^ 
 
 Genus YIII. BENTIXCKIA, Berry, 
 
 Bentinckia Codda-panna, Berrj^, — the " Codda-panna'^ of 
 the Telinga language, — is the only species representing this 
 genus. It is found in the mountains of Travancore in the 
 
 * It seems natural that a tree so largely diffused over the regions where 
 the Tamil language is spoken, and which, with its various products, enters so 
 largely into the daily use of the people of Southern India, should occupy a 
 jirominent place in their proverbial sayings and illustrations. Accordingly, 
 in a volume of Tamil proverbs, published by the Rev. P. Percival, of Jaffna, 
 I find the following, borrowed more or less from this familiar Palm and its 
 characteristics. Fibre used as toothpick — a hit at a spendthrift : " He whose 
 father possesses a thousand Palmyra-trees has not a fibre to pick his teeth." 
 Shai'pness of the petiole : " What he saw was a snake, but what bit him. was 
 the stalk of a Palmyra leaf." Leaves young and old, illustrative of heirship and 
 succession ; " It is said that the young leaves of the Palmyra-tree laughed be- 
 cause the dried leaves fell off." Tenacity with which fruit clings to the tree : 
 ""Will the Palmyra fruit fall because a crow alights on the tree?" Size and 
 weight of the fruit : " Can Palmyra fniit be suspended from the neck of a little 
 bird?" Tenderness of the germ — taking unnecessary trouble: "Why use a 
 mallet and wedge for splitting the newly germinated root of the Palmyra, that 
 may be split by the hand?" Height of absurdity. "As the scorpion stung 
 the Cocoa-nut tree, and the Palmyra sweUed in consequence ! " Felled timber 
 — removal of obstacles : " As an ass perambulated the place where Palmyra 
 
BENTINCKIA. 125 
 
 East Indies ; has a reed-like trunk, about twenty feet high ; 
 pinnatisect leaves, with linear segments ; scarlet male, and 
 lilac or \dolet female flowers ; and small, egg-shaped berries, 
 of a purple colour. Nothing is known of its uses, nor is it 
 as yet introduced into our European conservatories ; but it 
 is cultivated in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta. 
 
 timber had beeu felled." Falling from a Palmyra-tree — injuring a fallen 
 man : " A snake bit him who had fallen from a Palmyra-tree." " Yorkshire, 
 though in London:" the fox of the Palmyra-tree is said to have deceived 
 the fox of the city. Avoid even the appearance of evil — toddy-drinking 
 discreditable : " If you di'ink under a Palmyra-tree, it will be regarded as 
 toddy." Palmyra-tree insufficient for shade : "Is the shadow of the Palmyra- 
 tree a shade, or is the friendship of the malignant friendship ? " Rustling of 
 leaves — effects of long experience : " "\\"in the fox of the Palmyra grove be 
 frightened by the rustling of leaves ? " " Tell that to the marines : " " As one 
 ascended a Palmyra-tree, and descended without touching the blossom." 
 Toddy — the habit of drinking cannot be concealed : " He who drinks milk 
 will belch milk, and he who drinks toddy will belch toddy." Eating a Pal- 
 myra-tree — effects of perseverance : " By eating slowly, even a Palmyra-tree 
 may be eaten." How the fruit falls : " The fruit of the tree will faU at its 
 foot." Young trees — to save your property you must take care of it : " Pre- 
 serve young Palmyi'as by cutting, and buffaloes by tying." Turning the tree 
 to a bad use: "Is it to drink toddy you have reared the Palmyra-tree?" 
 Witchcraft and basket-making easy arts : " Witchcraft is the easiest of aU 
 arts, and the common ola basket is the easiest of all plaits." 
 
126 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 Genus IX. BRAHEA, llartius. 
 
 If a person should wish to reside in a district combining 
 the beauties of the tropics with those of the temperate 
 zones, — a climate neither too warm nor too cold, a flora 
 and fauna in which the characteristic types of both are 
 harmoniously blended — oaks, palms, and pines, humming- 
 oirds and deer, — he could not select a more suitable one 
 than the vicinity of La Mojonera and Alto de las Cajas, 
 in Mexico, the native country of Brahea dulcis, where all 
 the conditions alluded to are to be found. Brahea dulcis, 
 Mart. [Corypha dulcis, H.B.K.), the only representative of 
 a very curious genus, is known among the Mexicans by 
 the names of "Palma dulce'^ and " Soyale," and has for some 
 years been an inmate of our conservatories. AYhen fully 
 developed it is about thirty feet high ; its trunk yields 
 tiaiber; its leaves (which are fan-shaped) measure several 
 feet across, and serve for thatch ; its flowers are green ; its 
 fruit, a succulent drupe, of a yellow colour, and about the 
 size of a large cherry, is sweet and edible. 
 
CALAMOSAGUS. 127 
 
 Genus X. CALAMOSAGUS, Griffith. 
 
 Forests of the mountains of the Malayan peninsula are 
 the places where the four species of which this genus is 
 composed are found. They are more interesting on account 
 of their botanical character — having the habit of Calamus, 
 the leaves of Wallichia {Harina), and the seed of Sagiis 
 and Zalacca — than on account of their economic properties; 
 indeed, if the truth must be told, of the latter we know no- 
 thing whatsoever. Calamosagus harinicefolkis, Griff. (C. 
 ivallichicpfolius, Griff.), is termed " Eotang Simote/^ and 
 C, ochriger, Griff., " Eotang Donam/^ by the Malays, and it 
 is not unlikely that these, as well as the other two species 
 [C. scapiger, Griff., and C. laciniosuSj Griff.), contribute 
 their share towards the stock of ^' canes" annually sold in 
 the markets of the East. All Calamosagi are climbing 
 plants, bearing pinnatisect leaves, the segments of which 
 are wedge-shaped, eroded from the middle upwards, of a 
 lively green above and a bluish colour below ; their petioles 
 are, like their trunks, armed with prickles, and they have 
 near the base a leafy expansion (ligula) characteristic of 
 this genus ; their inflorescence is axillary, and bears herma- 
 phrodite flowers ; while their fruit, best compared in appear- 
 
128 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMs! 
 
 ance to a pine-cone, is scaly and drv. None of them Lave 
 as yet found their way into our gardens. 
 
 Genus XI. CALAMUS, Linnceus. 
 
 Althongli St. George, the legendary hero, may have ex- 
 terminated the last of the dragons, yet he certainly did not 
 take any efficient steps to prevent their blood from con- 
 tinuing to circulate, — if no longer in the veins of that fabu- 
 lous race of animals which he slew, at all events in the 
 body of three species of plants [Pterocarpns Draco , Linn., 
 'Draccena Draco, Linn., and Calatmis Draco, Linn.), belong- 
 ing to Natural Orders [Legiiminosce, LiliacecB, and Pahnce) 
 widely separated from each other. 
 
 Draccena Draco — to which belongs the famous Dragon- 
 tree of Orotava in Teneriffe, considered to be one of the 
 oldest vegetable inhabitants of our globe — and Pterocarpus 
 Draco are without the range of the subject proposed in this 
 work; but Calamus Draco is a true Palm, entitled to a 
 special notice. The genus [Calamus) to which it belongs 
 is indigenous in Asia, and abounds in the islands of the 
 Indian Archipelago, as well as in the Malayan peninsula. 
 
CALAMUS. 129 
 
 A few species are fouud within the Madras territories, but 
 in India they chiefly abound in the forests of the districts 
 of Chittagong, Silhet, and Assam, whence they extend along 
 the foot of the Himalayas as far north-west as the Deyra 
 Doon, where one species [Calamus Boyleanus^ Griff.) flou- 
 rishes in wild luxuriance. 
 
 All species of Calaimts are spreading shrubs, or small 
 trees, erect or often climbing to a considerable height ; their 
 trunks at intervals, where leaves are rent ofP, are covered 
 with their sheaths ; their foliage is, like their spathes, va- 
 riously armed with spines or prickles; their leaves are 
 pinnatisect, generally with linear segments, and their pe- 
 tiole runs out in some into a long whip-like cord, furnished 
 with recurved hooks, in others a similarly armed cord ex- 
 tends from the sheath, in both cases these attach the Ca- 
 lami to their supports ; their spadices are axillary, and bear 
 male and female flowers on distinct spadices of the same 
 plant (monoecio- dioecious) ; their fruit has much the appear- 
 ance of a reversed pine-cone, being covered with scales, 
 and is generally one, but occasionally two-seeded."^ 
 
 * Martius enumerates fifty-two species of Calamus ; but the total number 
 composing this genus as at present known, cannot be stated even approxi- 
 mately, as Griffith, who added thirty -five to those previously described, did 
 
 X 
 
130 POPULAr. HISTORY OF PAL3I9t 
 
 Calamus Draco, Willd.j tlie Dragon^s-blood Palm, is a 
 native of Sumatra and the Malay Islands, where it overruns 
 trees to a great extent. The stem is believed to yield the 
 white and brown " Manilla Dragons' Canes " of commerce. 
 The natural secretion of the fruit constitutes the best Ifjur- 
 nang, or Dragons' -blood ; a second and rather inferior kind 
 is produced by the fruit from which the natural secretion 
 has been removed by heat and bruising; the third, and 
 most inferior, seems to be the refuse of this last process : 
 it is perhaps doubtful whether it is ever procured from the 
 plant by incisions. Dragons' -blood has been an article of 
 commerce from the earliest times, and still continues in de- 
 mand. " Large quantities," says Low, " are annually sent 
 from Borneo to Singapore and Batavia, and thence to China, 
 where this drug is much prized." In Europe it was for- 
 
 not succeed in identifying the latter with the older species, to. which a great 
 many, no doubt, belong. In our gardens we cultivate at present, according 
 to "NYeudland's ' Index,' twelve species, viz. Calamus ciliaris, Bl. ; C. crinitus, 
 Wendl. {Bamo7iorhojps, Bl.) ; C. keteroideus, var. refracius, Bl., and var. 
 spissus, Bl. ; C. Javensis, Bl. (C. eqiiestris, Hort.) ; C. latispinus, Hort. ; 
 C. niger, "Willd. {Bamonorhops melanochcetes, Bl. ; B. asperrimus, niger, 
 viminalis, Hort. ; C. asperrimus, Hort. ; C. raontanus, Hort.) ; C. obhngv.s, 
 Reinw. {BamonorJiops ohlongus, Bl.) ; C. ornatus, Bl. ; C. rudentum. Lour. 
 (C oblongus and rkornboideus, Hort.) ; C. Roiang, Linn. ; C. Salacca, Hort. 
 {Bamonorhops Salacca, Hort.) ; and C. verus. Lour. 
 
CALAMUS. 13 1 
 
 merlj reputed an astringent ; but as it has been found to 
 be inert, or nearly so, it is no longer prescribed by medical 
 practitioners. It is a constituent of some tooth-powders 
 and tinctures, and is also, and chiefly, used for colouring 
 spirit and turpentine varnishes. 
 
 Calamus Sci])ioimm, Lour., the Ileotau of Cochin-China, 
 is believed by Griffith to be the plant which produces the 
 well-known '^Malacca Canes;" yet — another instance of 
 luctis a non lucendo — they do not occur about Malacca it- 
 self, but are imported from Siak, on the opposite coast of 
 Sumatra. Some of them are simply mottled or clouded; 
 others of a brown colour, in consequence, it is said, of their 
 having been smoked. The most slender specimens, with the 
 longest internodes, are those most highly valued. 
 
 Calamus Botang, Linn., C. rudenkmi, Lour., C. Boi/lea- 
 nuSy Griff., and doubtless various other long traihng species, 
 yield the rattans or canes of commerce, which, though ap- 
 parently insignificant, form a considerable, article of export. 
 Royle"^ informs us that in some years between four and five 
 millions of them liave been shipped from the territories under 
 the government of the East India Company alone. The same 
 
 * 'The Fibrous Plants of India fitted for Cordage, Clothing, and Paper,' 
 etc. By J. Porbes Royle. London, 1S55. 
 
132 POPULAU HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 author adds : — " Canes are abundant in all the moist tropical 
 parts of the East, both on the continent and islands. In Java 
 the cane is cut into fine slips, which are plaited into excellent 
 mats or made into strong, and at the same time neat, baskets. 
 In Japan all sorts of basket-work are made of split cane, 
 and even cabinets with drawers. Cane is also plaited and 
 twisted into cordage, and slender fibres are made to answer 
 the purposes of twine. It is stated that in China, as also 
 in Java and Sumatra, and indeed throughout the Eastern 
 islands, vessels are furnished with cables formed of cane, 
 twisted or plaited. This sort of cable is very extensively 
 manufactured at Malacca. The species employed for this 
 purpose is probably the Calamus rudentum of Loureiro, 
 which this author describes as being twisted into ropes 
 in the eastern regions, and employed, among other things, 
 for dragging great weights, and for binding untamed ele- 
 phants.'^ 
 
 Eattans are extensively used in Europe for caning chairs, 
 for making brooms, and, when dyed black, as a substitute 
 for whalebone, for umbrella-ribs, and for stiffening bonnets, 
 etc. ; they are also occasionally used in India for making 
 bridges, as described in the following passage extracted 
 from Dr. J. D. Hooker's Himalavan Journals : — "Soon after 
 
CALAMUS. 183 
 
 crossing the Rungmo, where it falls into the Eungeet, at a 
 most wild and beautiful spot, I saw," says the enterprising 
 traveller, " for the first time, one of the most characteristic 
 of Himalayan objects of art, — a cane bridge. ... A fig-tree 
 projecting over the stream, growing out of a mass of rocks, 
 its roots interlaced and grasping at every available support, 
 formed one pier for the canes ; that on the opposite bank 
 was constructed of strong piles, propped with large stones ; 
 and between them swung the bridge, about eighty yards 
 long, ever rocking over the torrent (forty feet below). The 
 lightness and extreme simplicity of its structure were very 
 remarkable. Two parallel canes, on the same horizontal 
 plane, were stretched across the stream ; from them others 
 hung in loOps, and along the loops were laid one or two 
 bamboo stems for flooring ; cross pieces below this flooring 
 hung from the two upper canes, which they thus served to 
 keep apart. The traveller grasps one of the canes in either 
 hand, and walks along the loose bamboos laid on the swing- 
 ing loops : the motion is great, and the rattling of the loose 
 dry bamboos is neither a musical sound, nor one calculated 
 to inspire confidence, the whole structure seeming as if about 
 to break down. With shoes it is not easy to walk, and 
 even with bare feet it is often difficult, there being fre- 
 
J'' Frajili W rt litli 
 
 rroois jBip 
 
 iiiaeis rneianococca , t7(wrm.. & Inartea exorrhiza , AfarL 
 
CAKYOTA. 135 
 
 guislied from all other Palms."^ The Caryotas are elegant 
 trees, frequent in \YOody mountains of the East Indies. 
 Their trunks are ringed, and often lofty ; their leaves are 
 bipinnatisect, large, reticulated, and their segments wedge- 
 shaped, obliquely eroded, and green on both sides ; their 
 spadices are nodding ; their spikes pendulous, often hanging 
 down in bundles, like the tail of a horse : their flowers are 
 monoecious, their stamens infinite in number, and their 
 roundish, somewhat red berries often one-seeded and con- 
 taining sour juice. The Caryotas flower only once during 
 their course of existence. The first spadix appears at the 
 top of the tree ; as soon as that has done flowering, others 
 (latent buds) issuing from the axils, or former axils, of the 
 leaves, make their appearance; this process, being of a down- 
 ward tendency, is repeated until the last spadix, which may 
 be looked upon as the death-knell of the plant, shows itself 
 at the foot of the trunk, proclaiming that the liour of de- 
 parture from life is at hand. 
 
 * I am aware that Zippel has described a genus {'Drymo'phloev.i) which has 
 the habit and foliage of Caryoia ; but that genus has not yet been generally 
 adopted, and appears to be, judging fi-om the imperfect description known to 
 me, move entitled to the rank of a section of Caryota, than to that of a 
 separate genus. 
 
186 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. • 
 
 Caryota nrens, Linn., the oldest and best known species^ 
 is a native of Malabar, Bengal, Assam, and various other 
 parts of India, where it often grows with teak and wild 
 mango-trees. It is a lofty Palm ^ the trunk is more than a 
 foot in diameter, and more than forty feet high. The leaves 
 are very large, measuring eighteen or twenty feet in length 
 and from ten to twelve across; from their fibre ("Kittul 
 fibre^' of commerce) ropes of great strength, brushes, brooms, 
 baskets, caps, and similar articles, are manufactured ; the 
 woolly material found on the petioles is sometimes used for 
 caulking ships. The tree is known in India under the 
 various names of Evimpannah, Jeroogoo, Eamguoah, Bon- 
 khejur, and Bura-flawar, and, says Roxburgh, '^ it is highly 
 valuable to the natives of the countries where it grows. It 
 yields, during the hot season, an immense quantity of toddy, 
 or Palm-wine. I have been informed that the best trees 
 will yield at the rate of a hundred pints in the twenty-four 
 hours. The pith, or farinaceous part of the trunk of old 
 trees, is said to be equal to the best sago ; the natives make 
 it into bread, and boil it into thick gruel ; these form a 
 great part of the diet of those people, and during the late 
 famine they suffered little while those trees lasted. I have 
 reason to believe this substance to be highly nutritious. I 
 
CARYOTA. 137 
 
 have eaten the gruel, and think it fully as palatable as that 
 of the sago we get from the Malay countries." 
 
 '' In Ceylon the Caryota urens is termed Kittul, and there 
 has given rise to a distinct caste among the natives, that 
 of the Jaggerarosj taking its name from the sugar which 
 is made of the produce of the Caryota urens being called 
 jaggery, and from the whole of the above caste, both male 
 and female, being employed in the culture of the tree itself, 
 or in the manufacture of the sugar procured from it. T^o 
 sugar is made in Ceylon from the sugar-cane ; all that used 
 by the natives is made either from the Cocos micifera, the 
 Borassus flahelliformis, or the Caryota iire^is, and is sold for 
 one-fourth or one-sixth of the price of the cheapest made 
 from the sugar-cane."^ 
 
 Besides Caryota urenSy several other species of this genus 
 (C. sobolifera, Wall., C. mitis, Lour., C. propinquaj BL, C. 
 maxirna, BL, C.furfuracea, BL, C. Ittimi^liiana, Mart., C, ? 
 horrida, Jacq., and C. ohtusa, Griff., (C. ohtusideniata, 
 Griff.,) are enumerated in systematic works : but little is 
 known about their useful properties, and moreover not a 
 few of them seem to be founded on very indifferent cha- 
 
 * Sir A. Johnston's letter to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, 
 p. 545. 
 
138 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS* 
 
 racters, making it difficult to recognize them^ and rendering 
 it necessary that they should be subjected to a stringent 
 critical examination."^ 
 
 Genus XIII. CEEATOLOBUS, Bhime. 
 
 The genus Ceratolobus is represented by one species only 
 (C glaiicescens, Blume), a spiny climbing Palm, with pinna- 
 tisect leaves (the segments of whicli are cuneate-rhomboid) , 
 lateral panicles, and one-seeded, scaly berries. It is a na- 
 tive of the forests of Java, and is to be found in some of 
 the gardens in Holland. 
 
 Genus XIY. CHAMzEDOEEA, WiUdenoiv. 
 
 Mexico, Central America, Xew Granada, and Yenezuela, 
 but principally the former, are the native countries of the 
 various species of Chamcedorea. " In the Eastern Cordilleras 
 of Mexico," says C. B. Heller (Bonplandia, vol. ii. p. 157), 
 " there is not a forest in which there is not, to an elevation 
 
 * In our gardens we cultivate: — C. Cummingii, Lodd. ; C.furfuracea, 
 Bl. ; C. horrida {?') ; C. raaxima, Bl. ; C. propinqua, Bl. {Ftycliosperma ap- 
 pendiculata ?) ; C. soboUfera, Wall. ; and C, urens, Linn. — Wendl. Index, 
 p. 9, et seq. 
 
CHAM^DOEEA. 139 
 
 of at least three thousand feet, as part of tlie underwood, a 
 considerable number of these slender Palms. Occasionally 
 they are not thicker than a man^s finger, yet still they attain 
 a height of twenty feet, and when having pushed their 
 crown of leaves through the boughs of the surronnding 
 trees, they appear to great advantage. . . . Their flowers, 
 when still enclosed in the spathes, are highly esteemed as 
 a culinary vegetable, known as ' Tepejilote.'' " Liebmann, 
 who, like Heller, visited that part of Mexico in which these 
 Palms chiefly floui'ish, has given the name of Clianmdorea 
 Tejiejilote to a species which he considers as producing more 
 especially the food in question ; but, from the language of 
 Heller, one is inclined to infer that the young flowers of all 
 Mexican Chamsedoreas are edible, and such is most likely to 
 be the case. According to Purdie, bridges are made of 
 these Palms in Xew Granada, similar to those made of canes 
 in the East Indies. 
 
 The Chamsedoreas are reed-like Palms, having polished, 
 annulated trunks. Their leaves are terminal, on both sides 
 green, generally pinnatisect, but in some species quite en- 
 tire (reduced to what has been termed in the Introduction 
 of this work, the normal state of the foHage of Palms). 
 Their flowers issue from the old wood in slightly branched 
 
140 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALilS. 
 
 racemes ; they are dioecious, and often beautifully fragrant. 
 Their fruit, a roundish berry, is occasionally not larger than 
 a pea, but it appears in great numbers, and is sometimes of 
 a bright red or scarlet colour, and highly ornamental ; as, 
 for instance, in Chamcedorea Ernesti-Augustij Wendl. The 
 number of species known at present is, according to a re- 
 cent enumeration, forty-two, out of which about twenty-six"^ 
 are cultivated in our gardens. 
 
 * These are ; — Chamcedorea Arenhergiana, Hrm. Wendl. (C. gracilis, la 
 tifrons, and oblongata, Hort.) ; C. atrovirens. Mart. ; C. Bartlingiana, Hrm 
 Wendl. ; C. brevifrons, Hrm. Wendl. ; C. Casperiana, Kl. ; C. desmoncoides 
 Hrm. Wendl. (C. elatior, regia ?, repens, robusta, and scandens, Hort.) ; C. 
 elegam, Mart. {C. Lindeniana and Martiana, Hort.) ; C. Ernesti-Augiisti 
 Hrm. Wendl. (C. latifrons, C. shnplicifrons, Geonoma latifrons, and Hyo 
 spathe elegans, Hort.) ; C. fibrosa, Hrm. Wendl. ; C. flavo-virens, Hrm 
 Wendl. ; C. geonomaformis, Hrm. Wendl. {C. fenestrola.^xi^ humilis, Hort.) 
 C. glaucifolia, Hrm. Wendl. ; C. gracilis, Willd. {Borass2'.s pinnatifrons, 
 Jacq. ; C. Lindeniana, Hort.) ; C. graminifolia, Hrm. Wendl. ; C. Karwin 
 sJciana, Hrm. Wendl. {C. elatior, Hort.) ; C. Klotzschiana, Hrm. Wendl. 
 C. lepidota, Hrm. Wendl. {C. velutina, Hort.) ; C. Lindeniana, Hrm. Wendl 
 {C. concolor and scandens, Hort.) ; C. lunata, Lich. (C. oblongata diudi Schie 
 deana, Hort.); C. Martiana, Hrm. Wendl. {C.flexuosa and Lindeniana 
 Hort.) ; C. oblongata. Mart. {C. aurantiaca, Lindeniana, and scandens^ 
 Hort. ; 3Iorenia oblongata, Hrm. Wendl.) ; C. pygmaa, Hrm. Wendl. ; C. 
 radicalis, Mart. ; C. resinifera, Hrm. Wendl. (C. elatior, Hort.) ; C. Sar 
 torii, Lieb. (C. Mexicana, Hort.) ; C. Schiedeana, Mart. (C gracilis and spe 
 ciosa, Hort. ; Kunthia Xalapensis, Otto'et Dietr.). 
 
CHAMiEROPS. 141 
 
 Genus XY. CHAM-^ROPS, Linnceus. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that in the Southern Hemisphere 
 Palms with pinnatisect leaves {Areca, Julcea, and Phcenix), 
 in the Northern, Palms with fan-shaped ones [Sahal and Cha- 
 mcerops)j mark the geographical limit of this Order. In 
 Europe and Asia it is ChajucErops, a smaU genus composed 
 of about a dozen species,"^ which forms the limit. Most 
 of the species have a low trunk, often creeping, and only a 
 few — for instance, Chanmrops Martiana, Wall. — attain the 
 height of forty feet. Their petioles are generally furnished 
 with prickles ; their leaves are rigid and fan-shaped ; their 
 inflorescence, arranged in panicles, is axillary, and bears 
 yellow poly gamo- dioecious flowers; their berries are generally 
 one- seeded, and may be compared to olives in appearance. 
 
 TThat renders this genus peculiarly interesting is that 
 all its species grow in a comparatively low temperature ; 
 indeed ChamcBroj^s Martiana ascends, according to Madden 
 
 * According to Hrm. Wendland there are ten species cultivated in European 
 gardens, viz. : — C, arhorescens, Pers. {C. tomentom, Hort. Genu); C. callosa, 
 Fulch. : C. Cochinchinensis, Lour. {Rha])his ? Cochinchinensis, Bl.) ; C. ex- 
 celsa, Thunb. (C. ChinensiSy Hort.) ; C. gracilis, Lodd. ; C. Griffithiana, 
 Lodd. ; C. Guianeiisis, Lodd. ; C. Jnanilis, Linn. (C. conduplicata, Hort.) ; 
 C. JEystrix, Fras. .; and C. Martiana, "Wall. (Loudonia excelsa, Hort.). 
 
14^ POPULAR HISTORY OF PAO[% 
 
 and J. D. Hooker, the Western Himalaya to an elevation of 
 eight thousand feet, where it is annually covered with snow, 
 rather shaking, as Lindley has already intimated, the hypo- 
 thesis of those palceontologists who contend that Great Bri- 
 tain must at a former geological epoch have enjoyed a 
 tropical climate, because remains of Palms have been disco- 
 vered in its coal-fields. 
 
 The most northern species is C. humilis, Linn., the so- 
 called Dwarf Fan Palm, worthy of particular notice as being 
 the only Palm indigenous to Europe, the Date-tree [Vhce- 
 nix dactylifera, Linn.) being merely an introduced plant. 
 It is found as far up as Nice in Italy, in 43° 44' north lati- 
 tude ; but thence southward it has a great range, being met 
 with in all the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, 
 including "Western Asia, Southern Europe, and Northern 
 Africa, where it covers the wild and uncultivated lands, as 
 the furze [JJlex Etiropceus, Linn.) does those of England, 
 and where the leaves are used for making brooms, seats of 
 chairs, hats, thatch for cottages, etc. In Algiers it was 
 until lately regarded as a scourge; and indeed, in one 
 sense, it still continues to be so ; for being, on account of 
 its deep and tough roots, difficult to extirpate, it constitutes 
 a great obstacle to cultivation. Some of the Arabian tribes 
 
CHAM^EUOPS. 143 
 
 Use the fibres furnished by the truuk, mixed with camels* 
 hair, for their tent covers ; others make baskets of the 
 leaves, and all prepare cordage from the whole plant pro- 
 perly twisted. These usages have called attention to this 
 Palm as likely to afford materials for paper, and e'xperiments 
 made have been crowned with complete success. Millions 
 of hundredweights of such material can be collected in 
 Africa ; the price of a hundredweight of green leaves would 
 not exceed two francs. The Dwarf Fan Palm already 
 furnishes a fibre resembling horsehair, which is firm and 
 elastic, and is used in France in great quantities, in the 
 manufacture of carpets, under the name of vegetable or 
 Afi'ican hair. Better sails are made from it than from the 
 Spanish broom [Genista scoparia. Lam.), for which it may 
 henceforward be substituted, to the annual saving of large 
 contributions from Spain of raw materials. This however is 
 not all. It has lately been discovered that the fibres, di- 
 vested of the glutinous matter which binds them together, 
 are extremely divisible, as fine as flax, and can be used, 
 notwithstanding their inferior length (from twenty-five to 
 forty centimetres), in the preparation of flax cotton. There 
 are already, since 1854, four kinds of manufactures — paper, 
 carpets, sailcloth, and thread — furnished by this plant. 
 
144 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMSf 
 
 Of the Asiatic species we shall meDtion, as most deserv- 
 ing of notice, C. excelsa and C. Bitchiana. The former is 
 the only indigenous Palm in the northern and central pro- 
 vinces of China, where, as well as in Japan, it is sometimes 
 cultivated. It attains a height of from eight to twelve feet. 
 The brown fibre surrounding its trunk is very strong, and 
 is, says Portune, employed by the Chinese for many domes- 
 tic purposes. Bed bottoms, used by all classes of the popu- 
 lation, are wrought out of it ; ropes and cables for the junks 
 are made from it. Agricultural labourers and coolies of 
 Northern China manufacture from the leaves hats and their 
 " So-e," or garment of leaves, a dress worn in wet weather, 
 affording great protection against the rain and wind. This 
 latter statement refers however only to Northern China ; in 
 the southern districts of the Celestial Empire the " So-e " 
 is made from the leaves of the bamboo and those of other 
 broad-leaved grasses. 
 
 ChamcBrojps Ritchiana, Griffith [C. GriffitJiiana, Lodd.?), is 
 a small Palm, with a creeping trunk, and a much branched 
 panicle. It grows — says the late Dr. Stocks, in a letter ad- 
 dressed to me a few weeks before his much -lamented death — 
 in masses on the barren hills and passes below five thousand 
 feet, leading up to the table-land of Afghanistan and Beloo- 
 
CHAM^ROPS. 145 
 
 chistan. It is well known to the natives of Scinde under 
 the name of " Phees." The dried trunks and foliage form 
 a common fuel, liigWy valued in a country where the 
 scarcity of wood is so great. The scurf, with the addition 
 of saltpetre, is a ready tinder for the matchlock. The leaves, 
 called "phurra," are brought in large quantities for sale, 
 across the Hala Mountains, from Beloochistan into Scinde, 
 where they are made into baskets, fans, brushes, sieves, san- 
 dals, pouches, platters, and principally into ropes for the 
 water-wheels used for the purposes of irrigation throughout 
 Scinde. The leaf-bud or "cabbage," and the young in- 
 florescence, as well as the flesh of the fruit, are commonly 
 eaten. The hard seeds are used for bullets, and also as 
 beads for rosaries. 
 
 The only species of Chamarops found in America is C. 
 Kystrix of Eraser, which grows near the town of Savannah 
 in Georgia : it has a creeping trunk, is furnished with 
 prickles which resemble porcupine quills and are often fif- 
 teen inches long, and produces a brown, edible berry, pos- 
 sessed of a sweet flavour. Another American plant, for- 
 merly associated with this genus {ChmiiiBrojjS serrulataj 
 Michx.), is now, more correctly, considered a species of 
 Sahal. 
 
# 
 
 146 POPULAK HISTORY 0! PALMS. 
 
 Genus XYI. COCOS, Linnceus. 
 
 About half a mile from Belligam, a fishing hamlet on the 
 southern coast of Ceylon, between the towns of Point de 
 Galle and Matura, is, completely overshadowed by groves 
 of trees, a large rock of granite, which displays the repre- 
 sentation of a former prince of the interior, about sixteen 
 or eighteen feet in height, called "Eottah Eajah,'' to the 
 attention of the traveller. According to tradition, the dis- 
 covery of the Cocoa-nut tree is attributed to a vision, which 
 communicated to this highly favoured rajah a knowledge of 
 that production. A Cingalese rajah, of devout conduct and 
 character, became suddenly afflicted with a cutaneous dis- 
 ease, which covered him with a white scaly substance from 
 head to foot, to so great a degree as almost to deprive him 
 of human appearance. So very rapidly did the loathsome 
 distemper extend its malignant influence over the rajah's 
 person, that sacrifices were resorted to by his people, in the 
 hope of thereby appeasing the anger of the supposed author 
 of the rajah's suff'erings, the Maha Yaka, or great demon. 
 The Kottah rajah (the image itself is now so styled) objected 
 to assist in person at any such diabolical sacrifices, and how- 
 ever prejudiced his people were in the belief of their eventual 
 
cocos. 147 
 
 efficacy, he liimself preferred humbly to submit to the decrees 
 of that superior power from whom alone the Maha Yaka could 
 have derived dominion, if he really possessed any, over the 
 destinies of mankind. At this period the Cocoa-nut tree was 
 not known in the interior of Ceylon ; and to this day its 
 scarcity is remarked by every traveller who visits the in- 
 terior of the late Kandian territory. The resigned but 
 suffering rajah having, with all due humility, paid his ac- 
 customed devotions, and offered sweet-smelling flowers,^ ac- 
 cording to the Buddhist rehgion, and repeated the Buddha- 
 Sarana, fell into a sound sleep, which lasted for several 
 days. During his trance, he beheld a large expanse of 
 water, which he tasted, and found it both salt and nauseous, 
 although of a fine green colour near and bluet in the dis- 
 tance; having on its margin immense groves of trees of a 
 rare kind, such as he had never before seen. For, instead 
 of branches in various directions, as other trees had in his 
 country, a tuft of large leaves crowned the lofty summit 
 
 * Generally of Bignonia Indica, Taberncemontmia, Jasminum odoratum^ 
 Zeylatiicum and luteum, Pohjanthes tuherosa, Nijctanthes Arbor-tristis, Jli- 
 chelia Champaca, Nerium odoratissiraum. Acacia Farnesiana, and Lawsonia 
 inermis. 
 
 t A liberty is here taken with the tradition, blue and green being syno- 
 nymous in Cingalese, " Mil-pata." 
 
148 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 of each individual tree, which, to an immense height, was to- 
 tally divested of branches or foliage. The Eottah rajah having 
 awakened from his trance, felt his mind deeply impressed 
 with the unusual nature of his dreams ; but in the natural 
 excitement which the hope of his recovery encouraged, he 
 renewed his oblations and prayers, believing that a display of 
 omnipotent mercy would be the result. A cobra di capello, 
 the Naya of the Cingalese {Coluber Naja, Linn.), and sacred 
 snake of the Buddhists, shortly afterwards approached ; and 
 having expanded its spectacle-marked hood, raised its head a 
 cubit above the ground, and observed the rajah steadily for 
 some moments ; after which the animal, extending his blue 
 forked tongue, and thrice bowing its head, lapped water from 
 the leaf in which it had been reserved for the rajah's parti- 
 cular use. Having thrice repeated the draught, the animal, 
 still keeping its eyes fixed on the rajah, gradually retired to 
 the jungle. This was conviction itself of Buddhoo^'s favour. 
 Again the prince felt his eyelids grow weary ; but in his then 
 state of disease, he had determined to occupy no place of 
 shelter save that which the shady Bogaha {Ficus religiosa), 
 the tree under which he reposed, afforded him. No sooner 
 had sleep a second time exerted its magic influence, than 
 his former vision recurred, with the additional appearance 
 
coco*. 149 
 
 « 
 
 of an aged man, whose face bore the appearance of the moon 
 in all its splendour. It was Malia Sudona, the father of 
 the god Buddhoo, vrho stood before the astounded rajah, and 
 thus accosted him : — " Prom ignorance of the sacredness of 
 the ground over which the god's favourite tree casts its 
 honoured shade, thou once didst omit the usual respect due 
 to it from all created beings. Its deeply pointed leaf dis- 
 tinguishes it above all other trees as sacred to Buddhoo ; and 
 under another tree of the same heavenly character, thou 
 now liest, a mass of sores and ulcers, wliich the impurity of 
 the red water within the large and small rivers of thy body 
 has, at the great deity's command, brought upon thee ex- 
 ternally. But since the snake, the kind snake, the shelterer 
 of the god Buddhoo when on earth, has thrice partaken of 
 thy drink, thou wilt derive health and long life by obey- 
 ing the commands which I now bear thee. In that direc- 
 tion (pointing towards the south) lies thy remedy. One 
 hundred hours' journey will bring thee to those trees 
 which thou hast seen in thy dream, and which thou shalt 
 see in reaHty, and taste their fruits to thy benefit. But 
 as on the top only it is produced, by fire it must be ob- 
 tained. The inside — partly of transparent liquid, partly 
 of innocent food — must be thy sole diet until thrice the 
 
150 POPULAR HISTOJIY OF PALMS. 
 
 Great Moon (Jla/m KandaJi) has given and refused her 
 light. Disease will, at the expiration of that time, leave 
 thee; thou wilt be clean again; but forget not, with the 
 restoration of thy health, sacrifices of sweet flowers and 
 fruits, with much thanksgiving, to that great Bralima of all 
 Brahmas,"^ to whom all other gods, and even demons, pay 
 homage ; through whose mercy and forgiveness of thy neg- 
 lect and transgressions thy bodily vigour will have been 
 restored, and the days of thy enjoyment in the splendour of 
 the mighty and flaming chief ruler of the moon prolonged." 
 A sound as of ten thousand tomtoms struck at once, 
 seemed to the delighted rajah a manifestation of the mes- 
 senger's authority. It reverberated on his ear for hours 
 together, after he had awakened from his second trance; 
 and, impressed with a belief that the invisible powers had 
 thus intimated a disposition to take him under their especial 
 protection, and that consequently it was his bounden duty 
 to obey commands so mysteriously conveyed, the rajah, 
 placing the palms of his hands across his forehead, and 
 bending to the ground, prayed for strength to act in obe- 
 dience to the Ossah PoUah Dewyo, the ruler and creator of 
 all gods and demons, and of the flat world itself. Having 
 
 * " Brahmata-Brahma," a name of Buddhoo. 
 
TUxelO. 
 
 '^ '^ 
 
 ^^\^ 
 
 y^ 
 
 
 JCTi-sa-iC di e^ iitn . 
 
 GulieiTna speaosa Ji&rr 
 
cocos. 151 
 
 summoned his immediate followers from the various resting- 
 places which they had constructed with the branches and 
 leaves of the neighbouring trees^ by way of temporary shel- 
 ter, the rajah repeated to them the prophetic words of the 
 divine messenger ; and having gone through the ceremony 
 of making a propitiatory offering under the Bogaha-tree, of 
 fruits, betel-leaves {Piper Betel), and flowers of sweet per- 
 fume, he, attended by his retinue, proceeded in a direct 
 course, tlirough rivers and forests, and over immense moun- 
 tains, to the southward, as directed by the Maha Sudona. 
 The one hundred hours' journey having been miraculously 
 performed without any perceptible fatigue either to himself 
 or attendants, the anxiously anticipated view of that bound- 
 less expanse of blue water, which in his dreams had ap- 
 peared to him so beautiful yet nauseous to the taste, 
 and on its margin immense groves of trees, with tufts of 
 leaves, as his visions had foretold, gratified his astonished 
 but delighted sight. Beneath the foliage, sheltered from 
 the vertical sun, hung large clusters of fruit, much larger 
 than he had ever seen in his own country of the interior, 
 of green, yellow, and red"^ colours, and others apparently 
 black. There were no human beings on the coast; but 
 " The Cingalese language has no signification for brown, reddish, orange- 
 
152 FOPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS.* 
 
 a vast number of wild beasts — such as leopards, bears, 
 sloths, and elephants. To climb the Cocoa-nut tree (the 
 promised source of health) was then unknown, and con- 
 sidered beyond the power of mortal man ; but as fire had 
 been pointed out as the means of obtaining its fruit, the 
 rajah's followers made one. Scarcely had an hour elapsed 
 after the fire had been kindled that was to fell the pride of 
 the coast and the most valuable boon of nature to the In- 
 dian world, ere, with a tremendous crash, the tree became 
 prostrate upon the earth, whence, from its capacious and 
 verdant crest, crept out creatures innumerable, — large blue 
 scorpions, brown and yellow centipedes, snakes of various 
 hues — from the polonga to the less dreadful rat-snake; 
 blue, black, green, and yellow beetles, tarantulas, and other 
 spiders, of all sorts and sizes and colours; whilst, run- 
 ning from leaf to leaf, the detested rat seemed to imitate 
 the motions and equal in agility the beautiful three-striped 
 squirrel, or lena, of this paradise (as the glad rajah and his 
 suite at that time considered it) of the universe. The novel 
 fruit was at first with some difQculty opened ; but the 
 rajah's superstitions were more powerful than even the ejffects 
 
 coloured, scarlet, or piuk, which are all expressed by the monosyllable 
 "rat," red. 
 
cocos. 153 
 
 of hunger itself. With awe he approached the beach, over 
 which wave followed wave in quick succession ; whilst the 
 surf beat ^'ith violence against the roots of those stately 
 trees, which seemed to thrive best where no other tree of any 
 utility whatever could survive even a temporary sprinkling 
 from the briny spray. Mute with astonishment at the vast 
 expanse of ocean, which he then for the first time approached, 
 the rajah bent to taste the liquid aliment. It was as his 
 vision prognosticated. Again his wonder was increased, 
 but liis faith had kept pace with it, in the full belief that 
 "ere the great moon had thrice given and refused her 
 light " he would be cleansed from his foul distemper, and 
 his disrespectful demeanour under the sacred Bogaha, which 
 had originally drawn down upon him the anger of the " All- 
 seeing," be forgiven. Having once commenced, the rajah 
 and his followers continued to live on the prescribed diet : 
 the former, in obedience to the commands of Buddhoo, 
 by the Maha Sudona ; and the latter from necessity, there 
 being none of their accustomed fruits, rice, or roots to be 
 met with so near the ocean. They found the water within 
 the nuts sweet and delicious, and pure as crystal itself (of 
 which mineral their country produced abundant varieties) ; 
 whilst the fleshy part of it was a cooling and satisfying food. 
 
154 POPULAR HISTORY 01 PALMS. 
 
 The prescribed time rolled on ; and day after day convinced 
 the delighted followers of their suffering prince that truth 
 came from above. The rajah gradually lost the white and 
 scaly skin which had enveloped him like the armour of the 
 great ant-eater of the interior; whilst the glow of heat 
 which pervaded his extremities convinced him of the near 
 approach of his promised recovery. Tliankful to his great 
 preserver, he omitted not to perform the duties which in 
 his visions had been dictated to him ; and on the first stone 
 which appeared durable and beyond the reach of the sea, in 
 token of his gratitude, he, with the assistance of his fol- 
 lowers, carved on the granite rock (" which you now see" 
 is added by the narrator) a gigantic statue of himself; re- 
 marking, that its great height would show the wonderful 
 recovery he had experienced, being a very little man in sta- 
 ture ; " for he had risen, by the blessing of the god of all 
 gods, to an undeserved height of happiness and bodily vi- 
 gour ; the memorial of which would thus be handed down 
 to millions yet unborn.'^ Numerous famihes from the high 
 country of the interior soon afterwards emigrated to the 
 sea-coast; for it had become an imperious duty on the part 
 of the rajah, on whom a miraculous cure had been so unex- 
 pectedly wrought by the fruit of the Cocoa-nut tree, to give 
 
cocos. 155 
 
 publicity to the circumstances which originally introduced 
 to him and his followers a knowledge of that splendid pro- 
 duction ; whilst the conviction of its transcendent utility 
 pointed out its propagation as a never-failing source of in- 
 dividual advantage and of progressive national prosperity. 
 
 Such is the account Cingalese tradition gives of a tree 
 which is at present to be found in every part of the tropics, 
 where it flourishes in the greatest luxuriance in the vicinity 
 of the sea, especially a few feet above liigh-water mark. 
 But although that is its chief habitat, it cannot be termed 
 an exclusively littoral plant, for it has been met with far 
 inland; by C. B. Heller, at Merida, in Yucatan; by J. D. 
 Hooker, at Patna, in Bengal ; and by Humboldt, at Con- 
 cepcion del Pao, leading the latter to remark : — " I was the 
 more struck with the fact [of finding the Cocoa-nut tree at 
 this great distance from the sea], because the veracity of 
 those travellers who have asserted the existence of this Palm 
 at Timbuctoo, in the centre of Africa, has been called in 
 question. Bonpland and' I saw it repeatedly, amid the cul- 
 tivated spots on the Eio Magdalena, more than a hundred 
 leagues from the coast." There is however no doubt that 
 the Cocoa-nut Palm refuses to grow in many countries any 
 distance inland, with as much pertinacity as it does in 
 
156 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 our conservatories, where, after having attained the age of 
 eight or ten years, it begins to sicken, and soon dies. I 
 may affirm, for instance, from personal knowledge, that nu- 
 merous trials liave been made to cultivate it in the central 
 parts of the Isthmus of Panama, — that narrow neck of land, 
 — but that all of them have hitherto failed. The causes 
 therefore which regulate this curious phenomenon are still 
 involved in obscurity ; and I should not be surprised to hear 
 that theorists, eager to account for these apparent contradic- 
 tions in the distribution, had been driven to the necessity 
 of making several species of this Palm, which, as there 
 exist several well-marked varieties, would not be a task at- 
 tended by great technical difficulties. 
 
 The Cocoa-nut Palm is closely confined to the tropics, 
 and wherever it ventures beyond their limits, it loses in 
 elegance of aspect and power of productiveness. In the 
 Sandwich Islands, just at the edge of the torrid zone, it 
 has a mean look, and yields fruit in such comparatively 
 small quantities, that the nuts were formerly, during the 
 time of paganism, considered so great a luxury, that only 
 the men — the privileged class in all barbarous countries 
 — were allowed to partake of them, the women being 
 strictly forbidden to touch them, and threatened with the 
 
cocos. 157 
 
 vengeance of the gods in case of disobedience. This cus- 
 tom was rigorously kept up for many centuries, — though no 
 doubt often broken through clandestinely, — until a female 
 chief had the boldness to set it at defiance, publicly braved 
 the anger of the carved idols, and thus secured to herself 
 and her sex an advantage which had long been withheld 
 from them, — an act deserving the more to be recorded, as it 
 was the prelude to the entire downfall of the superstitious 
 system, preventing the free development of the Sandwich 
 Islanders, to be followed by similar manifestations of an 
 awakened reason and the ultimate establishment of Chris- 
 tianity in one of its purest forms. 
 
 The centres of the geographical range of tliis Palm are 
 the islands and countries bordering the Indian and Pacific 
 Oceans. On the western coast of Africa it has only of late 
 years, Mr. Oldfield informs me, become more numerous by 
 extended cultivation ; in the Canaries it appears merely, ac- 
 cording to Carl BoUe, in isolated specimens. Whether it 
 was originally confined to the regions situated between the 
 eastern shores of Africa and the western of America, or 
 always spread throughout the tropics, is a question of too 
 speculative a character to be treated of in a popular work. 
 I will content myself with remarking that, whilst the Asiatics 
 
158 POPULAR HISTOEY OF PALMS. 
 
 and Polynesians have discovered a vast number of uses to 
 which it may be applied, — showing that they must have 
 been familiar with it from time almost immemorial, — the 
 Americans have made no such progress, and only consume 
 tlie nut as an occasional luxury, though the tree grows in 
 their native land with as much vigour as it does in any 
 parts of Asia or Polynesia ; implying that their acquaintance 
 with it must have commenced at a comparatively recent 
 period. 
 
 The Cocoa-nut tree attains a height of from sixty to a 
 hundred feet, and a diameter of one or two feet ; its cylin- 
 drical trunk, crowned on the summit with numerous waving, 
 feathery leaves, has a splendid effect, and forms an elegant 
 object of intertropical scenery ; it is seen on the arid, sandy 
 shores, with its roots laved by the surges, as well as in the 
 rich valleys, overshadowing the huts of the natives; but 
 when it is found inland, it is inferior in size to what it is 
 on the sea-shore and about the dwellings of natives. The 
 Cingalese have a saying that Cocoa-nut trees do not thrive 
 unless "you walk and talk amongst them," indicating 
 that the trees thrive best when carefully attended to. 
 
 In time of sickness the natives often make use of the 
 young Cocoa-nut trees as offerings to the supposed offended 
 
cocos. 159 
 
 • 
 
 spirits. From the trunk the Tahitians extract a gummy 
 substance, called Pia Pia ; it possesses no fragrant property, 
 but is used by the females to spread over their hair, in the 
 same manner that they are accustomed to use the viscid 
 gum of the Bread-fruit tree. The wood is devoted to va- 
 rious purposes : among the Polynesians it is used for shears, 
 rafters, fences, etc., and converted into charcoal. "VMien the 
 tree has ceased to bear fruit, it is most valuable, and is im- 
 ported into the European markets under the name of Porcu- 
 pine Wood. Among the Cingalese it is used for rafters, 
 laths, shingles, chairs, ladies' work-boxes, etc. ; but during 
 the period of its most abundant bearing (considered to be 
 between ten and thirty-five years' growth), the heart is of 
 so soft and spongy a nature, that it is merely used for 
 fences, water-pipes, etc. 
 
 The leaves are from eighteen to twenty feet long; the 
 Cingalese split them in halves, and plait the segments, so as 
 to make baskets. Under the denomination of " cadjans," 
 they form the usual covering of their huts, as well as the 
 European bungalows. Many of the natives' huts are con- 
 structed there, as well as in Polynesia, almost entirely of 
 materials derived from the Cocoa-nut tree. The Tahitians 
 plait the leaves {7uaic) for screens, or as a covering for the 
 
160 POPULAR HISTOEY OF PALMS. 
 
 floors ; for similar purposes, and also as a thatch, it is used 
 by the natives of the islands of Rotuma, Tongatabu, and 
 other of the Polynesian Islands. The Tahitians call the 
 screens paiia^ and they also manufacture neat baskets, one 
 kind of which is termed arairi, and another oini : a shade 
 called tako niau is made of the plaited leaves, and placed 
 over the eyes to protect them from the unpleasant solar 
 reflection from their sandy roads and beaches ; the yellow 
 leaves [rau para) are preferred for this purpose, their colour 
 being much admired. The leaves formerly played a part in 
 many of the religious ceremonies of the Tahitians, and were 
 also an emblem of authority ; they were sent by the chiefs to 
 their dependants when any requisition was made. Tlu'ough 
 the leaf tied to the sacrifice the god was supposed to enter ; 
 and by the same road the evil spirits, who, it was imagined, 
 tormented those afflicted with diseases, were driven out. 
 Bunches or strings of the segments were also suspended in 
 the temple on certain occasions, and answered the same 
 purpose as rosaries, reminding the worshipers of the order 
 of the prayers. 
 
 The heart, or very young leaves, called the cabbage, is an 
 excellent vegetable, either cooked or dressed in stews, 
 hashes, or ragouts. The Cingalese use the dried, old leaves 
 
cocos. 161 
 
 as torclies, botli for themselves during the dark nights or 
 to carry before the carriages and palanquins of Europeans; 
 they also use the spathe for a similar purpose, as well as 
 for fuel ; and at Eotuma and other Polynesian islands it is 
 also adopted for a like purpose. At Tongatabu, one of 
 the Triendly Islands, combs are made of the midrib of the 
 segments, the upper part being beautifully worked with 
 the fibre of the husk, or bulu. " These combs, from their 
 neat appearance, were," says Bennett, " in great requisition 
 during the time I visited that island, and all the women 
 were busily employed during our stay in making them, to 
 exchange with the jjajmlangi (foreign) officers and creAV for 
 trifling articles. The combs were stained by the bark of the 
 Koka-tree of a dark reddish colour, intended as a rude 
 imitation of tortoiseshell.''' 
 
 The washermen of Ceylon burn the foliage for the sake 
 of its alkaline ashes ; the midribs of the leaves, wheii tied 
 together, form brooms for tlie decks of ships. The Cinga- 
 lese use the unexpanded leaves in forming ornaments, on 
 the occasion of any festival, decorating arches, etc., in va- 
 rious picturesque forms of crowns, flowers, etc. 
 
 There is one portion of the tree which attracts much the 
 attention of the observer, — it is a kind of network at the 
 
 M 
 
162 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 base of the petiole^ which when very young is delicate, 
 beautifully white, and transparent, but when having at- 
 tained maturity becomes coarse and tough, and changes to 
 a brown colour. It is stripped off in large pieces, and used 
 in Ceylon as strainers, particularly for the toddy, which is 
 usually full of impurities when first taken from the tree, as 
 its sweetness attracts innumerable insects. In most coun- 
 tries where this tree is produced, tliis portion of it is used 
 for a similar purpose. At Tahiti it is called Aa ; and be- 
 sides being used as sieves for straining arrowroot, cocoa-nut 
 oil, etc., the natives, when engaged in such occupations as 
 digging, fishing, etc., in order to save their bark cloth, join 
 several portions of this network together, and having a hole 
 in the centre, in a manner similar to their mat garment 
 called Tiabuta, wear it as an article of apparel, merely for 
 the time in which they may be engaged in those occupa- 
 tions. It is certainly a garment neither to be admired for 
 its flexibility or firmness, but well adapted for fishermen, or 
 those occupied in the water, as it is not easily injured by 
 wet, whereas bark-cloth would be utterly destroyed in the 
 water, its substance resembling paper both in strength and 
 appearance. 
 
 A tree produces several bunches of nuts ; and from twelve 
 
cocos. . 163 
 
 to twenty large nuts, besides several small unproductive ones, 
 may be seen on each bunch. In good situations the fruit 
 is gathered four or five times in the course of the year. The 
 latter is most used as an article of food, both meat and 
 drink, when green or young {Qua of the Tahitians, Koroomha 
 of the Cingalese) ; in that state it yields an abundance of a 
 delicious, cooling beverage, to which Madeira wine, brandy, 
 etc., is sometimes added. The water, beautifully clear, has 
 a sweetness, with a slight degree of astringency, which ren- 
 ders it very agreeable. This liquid has been erroneously 
 considered as injurious (producing a predisposition to drop- 
 sical complaints), and among the Tahitians as one of the 
 exciting causes oi fefe, or elephantiasis; ''but," says Ben- 
 nett, " I have adopted this cooling beverage during my fre- 
 quent and long visits to intertropical countries, and have 
 always found it the most cooling and refreshing beverage 
 during my excursions ; but when an immoderate quantity 
 is drunk, I have known a shght degree of strangury pro- 
 duced by it. The ladies however, who may fear taking it 
 internally, are informed that to the water of the green 
 Cocoa-nut is ascribed that inestimable property to them, of 
 clearing the face of all wrinkles and imperfections whatever, 
 and imparting to it the rosy tints of youthful days V 
 
164 POPULAR HI3T0EY OF PALMS. 
 
 In Cejlou house-plasterers attribute to the water of the 
 green nut (i. e. the albumen in a liquid state"^) an adhesive 
 quahty in their white and other washes, in which lime forms 
 a chief ingredient, for the walls of houses, etc. etc. ; the 
 shells of the green nut, fixed on stakes, are used as illumi- 
 nation lamps. The albumen in the young nut is very deli- 
 cate, easily removed from the shell with a spoon, and may 
 very well be named a vegetable blancmange ; in this state it 
 is called 'Niaa by the Tahitians, who use it, as well as the 
 natives of other of the Polynesian Islands, in several made 
 dishes. After the fruit is suffered to remain a short time 
 longer, and the albumen becomes firmer, the Tahitians 
 change the name to Ornate, and the fully ripe nut is called 
 Oj)aa ; in this state it is sometimes, but seldom, eateu, 
 being used principally for making oil, as it contains a small 
 quantity of oily milk ; it is in this state the nuts are seen 
 
 * The following analysis of the liquid albumen of the Cocoa-uut was made 
 bj- "\iV. von Loweuich : — 
 
 Water 900-88 
 
 Sugar 443 
 
 Gum 17-67 
 
 Extractive matters (fat) 28-29 
 
 Salts soluble in spirits of wine .... 5-44 
 
 Salts not soluble in spirits of wine . . . 6-29 
 
 1000-00 
 
Flute]! 
 
 C pTdji lei a. Litlk 
 
 Hyphaene Thebaica ^art. 
 
cocos. 105 
 
 and sold in Europe. In* Ceylon, when the nut is fully 
 ripe, it is denominated Tol, or Curry Cocoa-nut, the kernel 
 of which is reduced to a small size by an instrument, the 
 hiromane, being a circle of notched iron fastened to the 
 raised end of a piece of wood : the kernel, thus reduced, is 
 placed in a cloth, and water being poured on it, a white 
 juice, which may with propriety be termed "Cocoa-nut 
 milk,''"' is extracted by pressure, used invariably, either with 
 or without the grated kernel, in their various curries and 
 mulligatawnies. A sort of tart, or cheesecake, is made from 
 the kernel (albumen) of dry nuts rasped or pared down. 
 In New Granada I have often seen the IVegroes boiling it 
 with rice. 
 
 The varieties of the Cocoa-nut are numerous at Tahiti, 
 one of the Society Islands. Bennett says that he is ac- 
 quainted with six, each having a distinct appellation by the 
 natives. At Ceylon five varieties are indigenous ; but they 
 are seldom, if ever, found in the same plantation, except it 
 be in the vicinity of a Buddhist temple of some importance. 
 The first, or King Cocoa-nut, the Tembili of the Cingalese, 
 must be well known to those who have resided in Ceylon ; 
 its bright orange-colour and somewhat oval shape cannot fail 
 to attract notice, and it is usually presented to respectable 
 
166 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Europeans by tlie Modeliars, or "by the priests, as a com- 
 pliment to those whose curiosity may have induced a visit 
 to the shrine of Baddhoo. The second is of a similar colour 
 to the preceding, but of a more spherical shape. The third 
 is of a pale yellow and rather heart-shaped ; it is the Kavjasi, 
 or edible husk, and has the pecuHar quality that after the 
 epicarpium has been removed, the inner rind (mesocarpium) 
 turns to a pale red, and is edible. The fourth is the com- 
 mon Cocoa-nut, which is in general use, and the one most 
 known. The fifth is a species of Maldivia, or dwarf Cocoa- 
 nut, about the size of a turkey's ^^g, which, being rare, is 
 more esteemed as a curiosity than for any peculiar good 
 quality it possesses. 
 
 The shells, when fully ripe, are cut transversely, scraped, 
 polished, and mounted on silver, being edged also with the 
 same metal, and are preserved as goblets, more for curiosity 
 than utility; they are also used for cups (elegantly carved), 
 lamps, ladles, skimmers, spoons, etc., by the Polynesians, 
 as well as other natives, entire, for containing their water, 
 having two holes on the summit. TVithout breaking the 
 shell, it is filled with salt water, and buried for some time iu 
 the sand, when the albumen becomes decayed, and is then 
 well washed out. The largest nuts are chosen for this pur- 
 
cocos. 167 
 
 pose, and are often seen highly pohshed and of a fine black 
 colour. The cups of the natives are usually made of sec- 
 tions of the nut in that stage of ripeness when they are de- 
 nominated by the Tahitians Omute ; they are then scraped 
 so thin as to be nearly transparent, and are of a light brown 
 colour. The shells will also make good lamp-black, and, 
 reduced to charcoal and pulverized, an excellent dentifrice. 
 The flowers are enclosed in a thick/ tough spathe : when 
 the latter is just expanding they have a beautiful milk-white 
 appearance. The Tahitians call them Tiari, a name applied 
 generally to all flowers ; and the spathe Ta t'lari. Pa signi- 
 fying a shell or anything hard, sometimes applied to the 
 shell of the Cocoa-nut, and the spathe is thus considered to 
 be the shell of the flowers. The first appearance of these 
 flowers on a tree of moderate size (when they are well seen) 
 has an elegant effect, — the cluster erect, drooping, and deli- 
 cately white. The flowers contain a most powerful astringent, 
 used in Ceylon medicinally in various debilitating diseases : 
 the expressed juice of the flower, mixed with new milk, and 
 taken in quantities not exceeding a wine-glassfull, but at 
 regular periods, affording almost immediate temporary relief, 
 and, if persevered in, efi'ectual cure. It is from these flower 
 spathes, before the flowers have expanded, that toddv, or 
 
16S POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Palm -wine, is made : it is called by the Cingalese Ba, and 
 the Hindoo Portuguese Soiira ; it is unknown to the natives 
 of Polynesia, although at some of the islands Europeans had 
 commenced instructing the natives, who were delighted to 
 have a beverage possessing the stimulus of their favourite 
 rum. 
 
 To procure the toddy the spathe is tied with strips of 
 the young leaves (which are much tougher and stronger than 
 the old ones) to prevent its expansion ; it is cut a little 
 transversely from the top, and beaten either with the handle 
 of the toddy -knife, or a small piece of ebony or iron-wood ; 
 this process having been continued morning and evening 
 (at dawn of day and just as the sun declines below the 
 horizon) for five or six successive days, the under part of 
 the spathe is taken off, so as to permit of its being gradually 
 bent, when the Chandos, or toddy-drawers, for the purpose 
 of keeping it in tliat position, attach it to some neighbour- 
 ing leafstalk. After a further period of five days, an earthen 
 chatty or calabash is hung to the spathe, so as to receive 
 the toddy that exudes, which is collected every morning and 
 evening, and the spathe cut a little every day : the quantity 
 collected varies much. 
 
 The scene represented in the accompanying Plate (copied 
 
cocos. 169 
 
 from ' Hooker's Journal of Botany') was sketched by J. M. 
 Straclian, Esq., in the Madras peninsula. There are three 
 toddy-men ; two in the foreground, and the other ascending 
 a Cocoa-nut tree. The shed behind is a temporary toddy 
 bazaar, kept (as is generally the case) by a woman, who 
 is helping the figure shown in the attitude of drinking to 
 another draught of toddy. The figures in the foreground 
 are equipped with the apparatus necessary to their vocation. 
 The ropes passing round the body of the man on the left 
 side of the plate, and carried on the left arm of the other, 
 are used in climbing the Cocoa-nut trees, and made of cow 
 or buffalo hide. The small ladder serves for scaling the 
 trees to the height of about eight or nine feet from the 
 ground. The Cocoa-nut leaf over the shoulder of the left 
 figure is supposed to be his perquisite, from which he 
 manufactures mats. 
 
 The toddy should be drunk at sunrise, when it tastes 
 most delicious, having a slightly stimulating effect, and 
 acting as a gentle aperient, a remedy admirably adapted for 
 constipated habits, particularly in those of delicate constitu- 
 tions ; the Cingalese prefer it aft^^r fermentation, when it is 
 rather intoxicating. Fermentation takes place in a few hours 
 after the toddy has been collected, when it is used by the 
 
170 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 bakers as yeast, the bread made with it being remarkably 
 light. Toddy is seldom or never used by Europeans during 
 the rainy season, being then regarded as higldy unwhole- 
 some. Bennett found the toddy in Ceylon, and a refresh- 
 ing bath, before or just at sunrise, cooling and bracing him 
 up to go through the heat of the day in that sultry, debili- 
 tating climate. 
 
 Arrach, or rachy is in several parts of India distilled from 
 rice, but in Ceylon (where it is named Pol wakere) from 
 toddy, after it has undergone fermentation and become quite 
 sour. One hundred gallons of toddy, it is said, will pro- 
 duce, by distillation, twenty-five of arrack. Like all other 
 spirits, when nevr it is regarded as injurious to the consti- 
 tution, but when old wholesome. It is a favourite spirit 
 among the drinkers of that far-famed English beverage 
 named punch. 
 
 Toddy also makes excellent vinegar, etc. The toddy- 
 drawers of Ceylon are a separate caste, called Chandos, as 
 are those of Bengal : almost all the famihes of this class re- 
 side in the neighbourhood of the sea- coast, where the trees 
 grow in the greatest luxuriance and abundance, the whole 
 line of coast between Point de Galle and Colombo being 
 thickly planted with them ; and the topes or groves are let 
 
cocos. 171 
 
 at a stipulated sum of six rix-dollars by tlie month ; and it 
 is also not uncommon for one or two families or more to 
 have a share in a single tree, affording them sufficient for 
 their favourite and universal food, the curry. 
 
 Besides vinegar, arrack, etc., the toddy pelds abundance 
 of jaggery or sugar. The toddy being collected in a cala- 
 bash, as before mentioned, in which a few pieces of the stem 
 of the Allghas [Alpiiiia AUughaSj Eosc.) had been placed, 
 a supply of sweet toddy is procured mornings and evenings, 
 but particular care is required that the vessels be regularly 
 changed, and that none are employed unless they have been 
 well cleaned and dried. Eight gallons of sweet toddy, 
 boiled over a slow fire, yield two gallons of a very luscious 
 liquid, called Penni, or honey, or jaggery, or sugar-water, 
 which quantity being again boiled, yields a kind of coarse 
 brown sugar, called jaggery, which is formed into round 
 cakes, and dried in the smoke of the huts ; and in order to 
 preserve it free from humidity, each cake is separately tied 
 up in pieces of dried banana leaves, and kept in a smoky 
 place, unless required for family use or the market. 
 
 Jaggery is exported from Ceylon to various parts of India. 
 In the interior a jaggery is drawn from the Kittul-tree 
 {Caryota urenSj Linn.), and is considered to possess more 
 
172 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 saccharine properties than that produced from the Cocos nu- 
 cifera. The jaggery makers are called in Ceylon HaJcaroos, 
 and are one of the subdivisions of the second in rank of the 
 Cingalese castes. 
 
 The rind or husk of the Cocoa-nut is very fibrous, and 
 when ripe is the Roya or Coir of commerce, now so exten- 
 sively used in Europe and North America for matting, 
 brushes, hats, etc. It is prepared by being soaked for 
 some months in water, washed, beaten, to pieces, and then 
 laid in the sun to dry. This being effected, it is again well 
 beaten, until the fibres are so separated as to allow of their 
 being worked up like hemp, similar to which it is made up 
 in ropes of any size, from the smallest cord to the largest 
 cable, but will not receive tar ; it is rough to handle, and 
 has not so neat an appearance about the rigging of ship- 
 ping as that made from hemp, but surpasses the latter in 
 lightness and elasticity, and even, it is said, durability ; 
 more so if wetted frequently by salt-water. Trom its elas- 
 ticity it is valuable for cables, enabling a ship to ride easier 
 than with a hemp or chain cable. Bennett remarks that he 
 was once on board a ship, in a severe gale, when chain and 
 hemp cables gave way ; and the vessel at last, most unex- 
 pectedly, rode out the gale with a small coir cable. Among 
 
cocos. 173 
 
 the Polynesian Islands, where this tree grows, the coir is 
 used in the manufacture of "sinnet/' some of which is 
 beautifully braided, and devoted to a variety of purposes. 
 At Tonga, one of the Priendly Islands, the natives dye the 
 " sinnet,^' called Kafa^ of various colours, using it in tying 
 the rafters of the huts, etc. The rope for their canoes is all 
 manufactured from this substance. The husk from which 
 the fibrous substance has not been separated is used in Cey- 
 lon in lieu of scrubbing-brushes for the floor; and also 
 brooms, mats, and bags are manufactured from it. 
 
 Another valuable production of the Cocoa-nut is the oil, 
 which is an article of exportation from Ceylon and other 
 parts of India, Polynesia, etc. It is used in various articles 
 of domestic economy ; besides being an excellent burning oil 
 (for which it is much admired, giving out neither smoke 
 nor smell when burning, and having a clear bright flame), 
 it has since had an additional value and more extended use 
 in Europe, by the discovery of its capabiHty of being ma- 
 nufactured into candles, rivalling wax or spermaceti, at the 
 same time without being much higher in price than those 
 of tallow. Soap has also been manufactured from it ; and 
 it is lavished by the Asiatics, Polynesians, and other inter- 
 tropical natives over their persons ; and at Tongatabu and 
 
174 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 others of the Polynesian Islands is used scented with sandal- 
 wood, giving a delightfal fragrance to the flowing tresses 
 and elegant persons of the dark beauties of those fascinating 
 islands. In cold weather this oil (like most of the vegeta- 
 ble oils) becomes very hard, and requires to be melted be- 
 fore it can be used for burning. 
 
 The method of making the oil is very simple. The ker- 
 nel having been removed from the shell, is boiled in water 
 for a short period ; it is then pounded in a mortar, taken 
 out, and pressed. The milhy as it is called, is then boiled 
 over a slow fire, when the oil floats on the top, and being 
 skimmed off and afterwards boiled by itself, two quarts of 
 oil may be procured from fourteen or fifteen Cocoa-nuts. 
 When fresh, the oil is used in cookery, and has an excel- 
 lent flavour ; the Cingalese anoint their bodies with it after 
 bathing, and invariably use it for the sake of giving a glossy 
 and smooth appearance to the hair, for which purpose it is 
 in great requisition by both sexes. 
 
 The remains of the Cocoa-nut, from which the oil has 
 been extracted, is termed by the Cingalese Poonak ; the best 
 Poonah is obtained when the oil is extracted by pressure : it 
 is an excellent food for pigs, poultry, etc. This substance 
 is termed by the Tahitians Ota^ and by the natives of Ton- 
 
cocos. 175 
 
 gatabu Efeniu, and they use it also for fattening their pigs, 
 poultry, etc., as also at the other Polynesian Islands. 
 
 At Tahiti they procure the Morii, or oil, from the nuts, 
 by first grating the kernel, then depositing it in the hollow 
 trunk of a tree, or some kind of hollow vessel, which is ex- 
 posed to the sun during the day. After a few days have 
 elapsed, the grated nut is heaped up in the trough or vessel, 
 leaving a space between the heaps ; the oil exuding, drains 
 into the hollow spaces, whence it is collected into bamboo 
 canes, containing each a gallon or more ; in this way it is 
 sold for export ; but the indolence of the natives prevents 
 its being so important an article of traffic as it might be in 
 the South Seas. 
 
 Sometimes the Tahitians, after the oil ceases to collect in 
 the vessel, put the kernel into a bag, and submit it to the 
 action of pressure by a rude lever press ; but the oil thus 
 obtained is considered inferior to that procured by the heat 
 of the sun. 
 
 The Malabar method of extracting the oil is by dividing 
 the kernels into two equal parts, which are ranged on shelves 
 made of laths of the Betel-nut Palm, or split bamboo, spaces 
 being left between each lath of half an inch in width; 
 under them a charcoal fire is then made, and kept up for 
 
# 
 
 176 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 tuo or tliree days, in order to dry them. After this process 
 they are exposed to the sun on mats, and when thoroughly 
 dried (then called Koppera) are placed in an oil-press, or 
 Siccoor. The Malabars have a caste of oil-pressers, called 
 the Waany caste. 
 
 There are medicinal properties attributed to different parts 
 of the Cocoa-nut tree in Ceylon ; the root (the Tunm Haari 
 of the Tahitians) is used by the native physicians, small 
 pieces of it being boiled with dried ginger and jaggery, and 
 the decoction given at stated regular periods, and is consi- 
 dered highly efficacious in remittent and intermittent fevers. 
 When this decoction is used as a gargle, it is mixed with 
 the fresh oil of the nut, and generally affords considerable 
 relief to the patient ; and has good effect, it is said, in cases 
 where pustules have formed in the mouth or tonsils. The 
 expressed juice of the leaves, mixed with the fresh oil of the 
 nut, is considered a sovereign remedy in haemorrhoids. The 
 expressed juice of the nut applied externally, mixed with 
 new milk, is regarded as a remedy for ophthalmic complaints. 
 
 The celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin describes the 
 habits of a crab which lives on the Cocoa-nuts : — " The 
 animal is very common on all parts of the dry land of the 
 Keeling Islands, and grows to a monstrous size ; it is closely 
 
cocos. 177 
 
 allied to or identical with the Birgos latro ; the front pair of 
 legs terminate in very strong and heavy pincers, and the last 
 pair are fitted with others weaker and much narrower. It 
 would at first be thought quite impossible for a crab to open 
 a strong cocoa-nut covered with the husk ; but Mr. Liesk 
 assures me that he has repeatedly seen this effected. The 
 crab begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, and always 
 from that end under which the three eye-holes are situated ; 
 when this is completed, the crab commences hammering 
 with its heavy claws on one of the eye-holes till an opening 
 is made ; then, turning round its body, by the aid of its 
 posterior and narrow pair of pincers, it extracts the white 
 albuminous substance. This is certainly a curious case of 
 instinct, and likewise of adaptation in structure between two 
 objects apparently so remote from each other in the scheme 
 of nature as a crab and a cocoa-nut tree. The Birgos is 
 diurnal in its habits ; but every night it is said to pay a visit 
 to the sea, no doubt for the purpose of moistening its bran- 
 chiae. The young are likewise hatched and live for some 
 time on the coast. These crabs inhabit deep burrows, which 
 they hollow out beneath the roots of trees; and where 
 they accumulate surprising quantities of the picked fibres of 
 the cocoa-nut husk, on which they rest as on a bed. The 
 
178 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Malays sometimes take advantage of this, and collect the 
 fibrous mass to use as junk. These crabs are very good to 
 eat ; moreover under the tail of the larger ones there is a 
 great mass of fat, which, when melted, sometimes yields as 
 much as a quart-bottle full of limpid oil. It has been stated 
 by some authors that the Birgos crawls up the cocoa-nut trees 
 for the purpose of obtaining the nuts. I very much doubt 
 the possibility of this ; but with the Screw-pine [PandauMs) 
 the task would be very much easier. I was told by Mr. 
 Liesk that on these islands the Birgos lives only on the 
 nuts whicli have fallen to the ground. 
 
 The genus Cocos, of which the Palm just described is the 
 most popular representative, is found in Asia and America, 
 and composed of about twelve species (seven of which are 
 cultivated in our gardens"^) : they are unarmed trees, with 
 smooth, annulated trunks and pinnatisect leaves, having 
 linear segments ; their spadices appear in the axils of the 
 lower leaves, bearing yellow male and green female flowers ; 
 their drupes are elliptical, or more or less ovate, have a 
 fibrous husk, and a solitary seed (^''nut'^), with three holes 
 
 * C. Australis, Mart. {Liplothemium campestre, Hort.) ; C. butyracea. 
 Mart.; C.fiexuosa,^\z:c\j.; C. nucifera,\km\.; C. oleracea, 'Mart.; C. phi- 
 mosa, Hort. Kevv., and C. schizophi/Ua, Mart. — Wendl. Index, p. 17. 
 
cocos. 179 
 
 » 
 
 on the base, which, though not pecuhar to Cocos, but com- 
 mon to most other genera of the Cocoinm tribe [Besmoncus, 
 Bactris, Guilielma, Acrocomia, Astrocari/um, El(2is, Si/agruSj 
 Dlplothemmmf Maximiliana, Jubaa, Orhigui/a, etc.), deserve 
 special notice, as they are said to have given rise to the name 
 " Cocos,^' the Portuguese fancying they coukl observe some 
 resemblance between that end of the Cocoa-nut showin^c the 
 three holes and the head of a monkey (Cocos, or Coquin) ; 
 hence they are said to have termed the tree Coqueiro."^ 
 
 No other species of the genus is of such vast import- 
 ance to man as Cocos nuci/era. Cocos cajntata, Mart. 
 (Cabegudo of the Brazilians), abounds, according to G. 
 Gardner, in swampy places about Arrayas, where it forms 
 the principal food of the large blue mackaw so common in 
 that district. Cocos coroiiata, Mart. [TJrucuri-iba of the 
 natives), another Brazilian species, yields a pith which the 
 Indians make into bread, and a nut from which oil is ex- 
 tracted. Cocos schizophjlla, Mart., of Brazil, vernacularly 
 
 * 111 Mexico the Cocoa-nut tree is termed, according to Heller, ' Maron ;' 
 in the East Indies it is known by the following names, copied fi-om Rox- 
 burgh's 'Flora Indica :'— Tenga (Rheed. Mai. i. t. 1, 2, 3, 4), Calapha 
 (Rnmph. Amb. i. t. 1 and 2), Neriula (As. Res. iv. 312) ; Sanscrit, ' Nari- 
 kela,' ' Xai'ikelee ;' Hindustani, ' Nary el,' or ' Nariel ;' Bengali, 'Nai-ikel;' 
 Telingoo, ' Xari Kudum,' or ' Kobri-Chulloo :' Tamil, ' Ten2:a.' 
 
180 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 termedi Aricttri or Aracuri, produces a fruit, the juice of which, 
 when in an unripe state, is employed in sliglit ophthalmic 
 attacks. Cocos oleracea, Mart. [Iraiha of the natives), of the 
 same country, has edible leaf-buds. Cocos huiyracea, Linn., a 
 native of New Granada and Venezuela, produces oil (wliich 
 has been compared to butter) and also wine. " The vine of 
 the country (speakiugof the Eio Sinu)," says Humboldt, "is 
 the Palma dulce [Cocos hutyracea, Linn.), which in the valley 
 of the Magdalena is termed ^ Palma de vino' (the "VVine 
 Palm), and here, on account of its majestic height, ' Palma 
 rear (the royal Palm). After having felled the trunk, which 
 diminishes but little towards the top, the natives make, just 
 below the point whence the leaves and spathes issue, an 
 excavation in the ligneous part eighteen inches long, eight 
 broad, and six deep. They work in the hollow of the tree, 
 as though they were making a canoe ; and three days after- 
 wards this cavity is found filled with a yellowish- white juice, 
 very limpid, with a sweet and vinous flavour. The fermen- 
 tation appears to commence as soon as the trunk is felled, 
 but the vessels preserve their vitality : for we saw that the 
 sap flowed even when the summit of the Palm-tree (that 
 part whence the leaves shoot out) is a foot higher than 
 the lower end, near the roots. The sap continues to mount 
 
puu :z 
 
 I Yviixk. i£. e-_ 
 
 • inii'^/ ^ 5ok- -th^. 
 
 Iriartea ventncosa , Man 
 
. COPEIIXICIA. IBl 
 
 as in the arborescent Euphorhia recently cut. During 
 eighteen to twenty days the palm-wine is daily collected ; 
 the last is less sweet, but more alcoholic and more highly 
 esteemed. One tree yields as much as eighteen bottles of 
 sap, each bottle containing forty-two cubic inches. The 
 natives affirm that the flowing is most abundant when the 
 petioles of the leaves, which remain fixed to the trunk, are 
 burned." 
 
 I may add that the same process of extracting the wine 
 as here described is practised in the Isthmus of Panama, 
 where I have often tasted the beverage, which I consider 
 quite equal to champagne in flavour. 
 
 Genus XYII. COPEENICIA, Martins, 
 
 Martins, on writing the name of the great Copernicus in 
 the Album of Systematic Botany, could hardly have se- 
 lected for that purpose a more beautiful genus than the 
 present. It is confined to the tropics of the New ATorld, 
 and composed of six species, three of which are little known, 
 and therefore regarded as doubtful. They are all unarmed, 
 middle-sized trees, their trunk being erect, and covered with 
 
183 POPULAR HISTOllY OF. PALMS. 
 
 the remnants of the leafstalks, which gives it a peculiar as- 
 pect; their leaves are palmate, their flowers appearing in 
 the axils of the petioles, and being hermaphrodite or poly- 
 gamous, small and of a green colour ; their berries are ellip- 
 tical, one-seeded, and somewhat yellow. Perhaps the best 
 known species is the Carnatiba of the Brazilians {Cqpernicia 
 cerifera, Mart., Coryplia cerifera, Arruda da Camara), which 
 occurs chiefly in the northern districts of Brazil, either 
 isolated (as represented in our plate, copied from Martius's 
 splendid work on Palms) or aggregated in immense forests. 
 It attains the height of from twenty to forty feet. The trunks 
 of the younger plants are generally covered with leaves, but 
 as they grow older the lower ones drop off, leaving only a tuft 
 at the top, which is so arranged as to form a perfect ball. The 
 leaves, covered by a glaucous bloom, are not unhke those 
 of the Dwarf Pan-Palm of Southern Europe [ChmiKBrops 
 humilis, Linn.). The trunk, — from the inside of which the 
 Brazihans prepare for home consumption a kind of farinha, 
 — is used for almost every purpose to which wood can be 
 applied ; it is so durable, particularly the lower parts of the 
 full-grown plants, that it lasts for many years, even when 
 exposed to the weather ; hence all the framework of houses 
 and the enclosures for cattle are made of it ; occasionally 
 
COPERNICIA. 183 
 
 it is met with in London timber-yards. The leaves serve for 
 a variety of purposes, such as thatch, pack-saddles, hats, etc., 
 and in time of scarcity the young ones are chopped up and 
 given as fodder to horses and cattle. They also produce a 
 kind of wax, obtained by shaking the young leaves after 
 they have been detaclied from the tree; when each leaf 
 yields about fifty grains of a whitish, scaly powder, which 
 is melted in pots over a fire. This vegetable fat is some- 
 times used by the Brazilians to adulterate bees'-wax ; sam- 
 ples of it have occasionally been sent to Portugal to see 
 whether a demand for it could be created, but without 
 any result. The wax is now however imported into Great 
 Britain for manufacturing candles, but those made from it 
 by Price^s Candle Company at Yauxhall, near London, 
 retain the lemon-coloured tint peculiar to the raw wax, no 
 process of bleaching that material having, according to Mr. 
 Wilson, as yet been discovered. The fruit of the Carnaiiba, 
 though bitter, is, either raw or boiled, eaten by the Indians. 
 The foliage of Copernicia hosmta, Mart., a Cuban Palm, 
 is used for thatch, as is also that of another species, Cojoer- 
 nicia tectorum, Mart. {Cory]}ha tectorum, Humb., BonpL, et 
 Kth.), which is found in the plains of Venezuela and New 
 Granada, and in the former Republic is, according to Hum- 
 
184 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 boldt and Bonpland^ commonly termed " Palm a de covija," 
 " Palma redonda/^ and '' Palma de sombrero " in the latter, 
 according to Purdie, "Palma serra^^ (cera?). "The wood 
 of Co2')ernicia tectorum" says Humboldt, "is excellent for 
 building purposes, and so hard that it is difficult to drive 
 a nail into it. The leaves are employed to cover the roofs 
 of the huts scattered through the llanos (plains) of Vene- 
 zuela, and these roofs last more than twenty years. The 
 leaves are fixed by bending the extremities of the foot- 
 stalks, which have been beaten beforehand between two 
 stones, so that they may bend without breaking." Purdie, 
 who, as well as Schlim, met with this tree in Santamarta, 
 New Granada, confirms the above statement, in a memo- 
 randum contained in the Hookerian Herbarium, and adds 
 that the fruit is an article of food among the inhabitants 
 of that province. Purdie^s remark about the fruit may be 
 extended to the Pumos {Cojjernicia ? PumoSj Mart., Corypha 
 Pumos, Humb., Bonpl., et Kth.), a Mexican plant, the ber- 
 ries of which are said to have an agreeable flavour. Little 
 is known about Copernicia ? inarititna, Mart. {Cori/pha ma- 
 rifima, Humb., Bonpl., et Kth.), and Copernicia Mira^nama, 
 Mart. {Corypha Mir aguamay Humb., Bonpl., et Kth.), both 
 natives of Cuba. To obtain perfect specimens, and a full 
 
CORYPHA. . 185 
 
 history of them^ will be one of the objects of future travel- 
 lers in that region."^ 
 
 Genus XVIII. COEYPHA, Lhmmis. 
 
 Under the native government of Ceylon each person was 
 allowed^ according to the social station he occupied^ to have 
 a certain number of gigantic Palm-leaves, folded up in the 
 form of fans, borne before him. These leaves were the 
 produce of the Tallipot-tree, belonging to Coryplia, a genus 
 composed of about five species, all inhabitants of tropical 
 Asia. They have ringed or channelled trunks, generally 
 remarkably straight, but not much higher than thirty 
 feet ; petioles armed with prickles ; fan-shaped, much-divided 
 leaves, each division being bilobed; a terminal panicle 
 (hence they can flower but once) ; hermaphrodite, white or 
 greenish blossoms, emitting a powerful though not always 
 agreeable odour, and a roundish, one-seeded berry. The 
 
 * In our gardens we cultivate: — CoperniciaF Bariadensis, Hort, {Tlirinax 
 Barladensis, Hort.), C ? maritima, Mai"t. {Corypha maritima, H. B. K., 
 Thrinax multiflora, Hort.), C? rohusta, Wendl. {Cocos Jatta, Cort/pha Gua- 
 nacoa, Licuala brevipes, Sabal maritima, Thrinax rohusta, Hort.)^ and C. 
 tectonim, Mart. {Corypha tedorum, H. B. K.). — Wendl. Index, p. 19. 
 
186 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALILS. 
 
 Tallipot-tree {Corypha iimhraculifera^ Linn.) grows in stony 
 parts of the mountains of Ceylon, Malabar, and the Malay 
 coast. Its leaves are of gigantic size, the petiole being seven 
 feet long, the blade (which describes nearly a complete oval) 
 six feet long and thirteen feet broad, and the segments of 
 the leaf from ninety-five to a hundred in number ! They 
 are extensively used by the lower classes of Cingalese as 
 umbrellas, and that they are extremely well adapted for that 
 purpose requires no assurance, one outspread leaf affording 
 sufiicient shelter for seven or eight persons. Some of the 
 sacred records of the Cingalese are written on pieces of the 
 blade of these leaves with either a brass or iron style. That 
 such records " have resisted for ages the ravages of time" has 
 been asserted by various authors, denied by others ; I, for 
 my part, believe that their power of resistance is not very 
 great, and those who have seen much of the effect of time 
 upon well-preserved specimens in herbaria will probably be 
 inclined to side with me. The leaves of the Tara, Tallier, or 
 Tareetof theBengalese [Corypha Talier a, 'Koi^^), a tree closely 
 resembling in habit the Palmyra [Borassus fiahelliformlsy 
 Linn.), are also used for writing upon, as well as for tying 
 the rafters of the native houses, being strong and durable. 
 The leaves of the Gebang Palm {CorypJia Gebanga, Blume), 
 
DESMONCUS. , 187 
 
 are likewise useful. Thousands of boys and girls, it is 
 stated, are employed in Java in converting tliem into bas- 
 kets and bags ; thatch and broad-brimmed hats are made 
 of them, fishing-nets and shirts are woven from their fibre, 
 and ropes manufactured from their stalk. The pithy sub- 
 stance of the trunk, it is further stated, yields a sort of 
 sago ; the root is both emollient and slightly astringent ; 
 sliced, it is administered in slight diarrhoea ; Waitz even 
 says that it is a most efiicacious remedy for the periodical 
 diarrhoeas which, in the sultry regions of the East Indies, 
 attack Europeans out of health. 
 
 Formerly, a number of other Palms were associated with 
 Corypha ; these are now distributed under the genera Co- 
 pernicia, Hi/jjhcBne, Livistonia, Sabal, and Thrinax, as devi- 
 ating too much from the original type of this genus."^ 
 
 Genus XIX. DESMONCUS, MaHiiis. 
 The Palms associated under the name of Besmoncus hold 
 
 * In Europeau gardens are cultivated : — Corypha Cumingii, Lodd., C. Ge- 
 banga, Blum. (C. macrophylla, Hort. Genn.), and Corypha urabraeulifera, 
 Linn. — Wendl. Index Palm, p, 19. They are of slow growth. I know not 
 of any plant in England with a trunk. — John Smith, 3ISS. 
 
188 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 about the same position in the forests of America that the 
 Eattans and their allies do in those of Asia ; most of them 
 climb over shrubs and among trees, often forming elegant 
 festoons. The trunk is slender, and furnislied with large, 
 eitlier straight or hooked prickles, their leaves being scattered 
 over their wliole surface, not terminal, as in most Palms ; 
 the latter are pinnatisect, and end in a long whip, clad with 
 recurved spines, by which these plants are enabled to hold 
 on ; their flowers, which appear in the axil of the petioles, 
 are simply branched, monoecious, and of a yellow colour ; 
 their drupes are ovate or nearly round, one-seeded, and red ; 
 their seeds are black. About eighteen species are described, 
 a few of which are cultivated in Europe.^ 
 
 The fruit of Besmoncus prunifer, Poepp., a Peruvian 
 plant, is succulent, has an acid-sweet flavour, and is edible, 
 as is also the kernel. The outer part of the trunk of the Bra- 
 zilian Jacitara, which Wallace believes to be the Besmoncus 
 macr acanthus of Martins, is much used in the Amazon and 
 Eio Negro districts for making the "tipitis,^' or elastic 
 platted cylinders employed in the manufacture of farinha, 
 
 * These are : — Desmonciis ? acideatus, Hort., D. diibius, Lodd., D. lati- 
 
 frons, INIart., B. macr acanthus^ Mart. {Bactris Paraensis, Hort.), D. mitis, 
 
 Mart., B.orthacanthus? 'Ma,vt.,an([ B. poli/acanthus, Mart. — Wendl.l.c.^.2Q. 
 
DESMONCUS. ' 189 
 
 the produce of the mandiocca plant. "These cylinders/' 
 says Wallace, " are sometimes made of certain water-plants 
 and several other Palms, but those constructed of ' Jacitara' 
 are said to outlast two or three of the others. . . . When 
 the cylinders are used they are suspended from a strong pole, 
 after being filled with the grated pulp. A long lever is 
 passed through the loop at the lower end of the 'tipiti/ 
 by means of which it is stretched, the power being applied 
 by the woman sitting on the further extremity of the pole. 
 The cylinder thus becomes powerfully contracted, and the 
 poisonous juice runs out of every part of the surface, and is 
 caught in a pan below, in order to be carefully thrown away ; 
 for it would cause speedy death to any domestic animal 
 which should happen to drink it." 
 
 " The Jacitara grows in the Catinga forests of the Upper 
 Eio Negro, and on the margins of small streams, climbing 
 over trees, and throwing out its armed leaves on every side 
 to catch the unwary traveller. How often will they seize 
 the insect net of the entomologist, just as he is making a 
 dart at some rare butterfly, or fasten on his jacket or shirt- 
 sleeve, or pull the cap from his head ! Woe then to the 
 impatient wanderer ! A pull or a tug will inevitably cause 
 a portion of the fractured garment to stay behind, for the 
 
190 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Jacitara never loses its holcl^ and it is only by deliberately 
 extracting its fangs that the intruder can expect to depart 
 unhurt." 
 
 " In some places small igaripes, or forest streams, are 
 almost filled up witli the various climbing grasses and 
 creepers, among which the Jacitara holds a prominent place. 
 It is up these streams that the Indians often dehght to fix 
 their abode. In such cases tliey never cut down a branch, 
 but pass and repass daily in their little canoes, which wind 
 like snakes among the tangled masses of thorny vegetation. 
 They are thus almost safe as^ainst the incursions of the white 
 traders, who often attack them in their most distant retreats, 
 carry fire and sword into their peaceful houses, and take 
 captive their wives and children. But few white men can 
 penetrate for miles along those little winding streams, where 
 not a broken twig or cut branch shows that a human being 
 has ever passed before. Thus does the spiny Jacitara help 
 to secure the independence of the wild Indian in the depths 
 of those forests which he loves.''^ 
 
 Genus XX. DIPLOTHEMIUM, Martins. 
 This genus is composed of four species, one of which 
 
ELiEIS. 191 
 
 {J)i]}lotheminm maritimum, Mart.) is au inmate of our gar- 
 dens. Two of them inhabit the coast, and two the dry 
 campos of Brazil. They are either entirely stemless, or 
 possess a short ringed trunk, which, like every other part of 
 the plant, is unarmed. Their leaves are pinnatisect, with 
 linear segments, the underside of which is either of a silvery 
 white or a glaucous hue. The flowers are monoecious, rather 
 large, ^nd appear in the axils of the petioles. The fruit, an 
 ovate or obovate drupe, is yellow, and has a fibrous acid- 
 sweet flesh, which is eaten by the natives. 
 
 Genus XXI. EL^IS, Jacquin. 
 
 One chapter of the history of Botany still remains to be 
 written, — that showing the direct and indirect influence the 
 occurrence of a plant exercises on the moral and physical 
 condition of a country. A subject more redundant with in- 
 terest, a task more grateful to the phytologist, could hardly be 
 selected. A few leaves from the historv of the Oil Palm of 
 Africa will serve to illustrate this idea. The state of debase- 
 ment of the Negro races of Africa has long been a subject 
 of great concern to philanthropists, and numerous schemes 
 have been tried to raise them to the rank of intelligent 
 
192 POPULAU HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 beings^ but all have liitherto proved au utter failure^ — a 
 failure cliiefly to be ascribed to the fact that the natural re- 
 sources of that country were either entirely unknown, or, if 
 known, so little developed that legitimate commerce on a 
 large scale could not be established. The traffic in slaves 
 was found more profitable than that of other indigenous 
 productions, and as long as that was the case, the establish- 
 ment of society on a more rational and firmer basis than 
 that hitherto existing was out of the question. At last a 
 ray of hope seems to glimmer, at least for Western Africa. 
 A production scattered over that country with a bountiful 
 hand has been found, the exportation of which yields returns 
 more ample than those of the abominable traffic in human 
 beings ; and hence it may be fairly expected that the selfish 
 love of gain will tend to bring about that reform in the 
 social state of those degraded people, which unselfish phil- 
 anthropy has failed to accomplish. The African Palm oil, 
 the production here alluded to, has indeed long been sought 
 after by Europeans, but it did not assume that importance, 
 either directly or indirectly, which it now claims, until the 
 introduction of new processes for manufacturing Stearic 
 candles from it, first applied by Price's Patent Candle Com- 
 pany, at Yauxhall, near London. By the introduction of 
 
ELJEIS. 193 
 
 those and similar processes. Palm oil has become an article 
 of so much demand, and the trade in it has assumed such 
 dimensions, that it employs no less than 20,000 tons of 
 shipping from Liverpool alone ! The value of this trade, 
 as well as the possibility* of civihzing Africa by means of 
 increased traffic in legitimate articles in general, is fully 
 revealed in the evidence given before a Parliamentary 
 Committee in 1818, by the late Mr. William Hutton, ^Ir. 
 WiUiam Jackson, and Dr. Kehoe, as has already been 
 pointed out by Mr. G. P. Wilson in his instructive pamphlet 
 ' On the Stearic Candle Manufacture.' ^ 
 
 " Mr. Hutton stated that the palm-oil trade is carried on 
 in British vessels ; that it is a barter trade, the palm-oil 
 being almost entirely paid for in the manufactures of Man- 
 chester, Birmingham, and Glasgow; that the trade might 
 be very much increased gradually, but not suddenly ; that 
 it employs a very large proportion of the population of the 
 districts where it is grown, in gathering, preparing, and 
 bringing the oil down to the British factories ; that it is 
 brought down to the coast in small quantities, and sold 
 
 * * Oil the Stearic Candle Manufacture.' By G. F. "Wilson, Esq. To 
 Nvhich are appended. Papers on the Slave Trade and the Soap Tax. Third 
 Edition. London, 1852. 
 
 O 
 
194 POPULAR HISTORY OF FALMS. 
 
 even in single gallons ; that the natives keep no store, but 
 bring it as it is manufactured ; that the natives prepare it 
 by boiling it with water, the oil floating upon the surface of 
 the water, and, when the latter is cold, being skimmed off 
 into calabashes or large gourds (I presume of the kind Sind- 
 bad^s old man of the sea used as wine-cups), in which it is 
 brought to the European factories. 
 
 " That he considers it an indisputable fact, that the legiti- 
 mate trade and produce of Africa are in every respect the 
 most desirable means that can be applied to the suppression 
 of the slave-trade. 
 
 "Mr. Jackson stated that palm-oil is a produce that may 
 be indefinitely multiplied ; that it is impossible for any one 
 to form an idea of what Africa can do ; that he thought we 
 are only in our infancy with regard to the trade with the 
 West coast ; that what we import now is a mere bagatelle to 
 what we shall be able to do in the course of a few years ; 
 that from his experience of the trade, and seeing the way 
 that increase has taken place according to the demand for it 
 on the coast, he considers that there is no end to the quan- 
 tity of palm-oil that can be produced, and that he is corro- 
 borated in this view by every trader he has come into con- 
 tact with, who has been out to the coast of Africa, from 
 
K 
 
 .odoi,.ra S'.'cr.n! iai u.ra . In Bui 
 
EL^IS. 195 
 
 whom he has always heard the opinion that the demand will 
 always be met by a supply, although there may be occasion- 
 ally a little delay, in consequence of the demand coming 
 suddenly when their season is not on; that the trade is 
 carried on invariably by barter, by which are paid British 
 manufactured goods for the palm-oil. 
 
 " In answer to the question, ' I presume principally in 
 articles of clothing, — articles of civilization, so to call them ?' 
 he stated that they did not so commence in 1826; they 
 used to send out fancy articles, such as beads and looking- 
 glasses, and other nicknacks, which please the fancy of the 
 Black ; that gradually, by anticipating his wants, they led 
 him on to further industry, and induced him to produce 
 more palm-oil than he did before, and gradually led him 
 into habits of civilization, and a demand for civilized ar- 
 ticles, — a tendency which might probably be increased with 
 the increase of opportunity. 
 
 "In answer to the question, 'You began with them, 
 like children, with beads, and you have got almost up to 
 pantaloons with them by this time ?' he said, ' Oh yes ; I 
 recollect the last year I was in the trade we sent out to 
 King Eaman, of Old Calabar, a house to cost nearly 
 £1000, which was paid for in palm-oil.' Mr. Jackson 
 
196 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 further says ' that the palm-oil trade is a peculiar one ; that 
 the black man, if he has wants, will gratify them, whatever 
 it costs ; if he has no desire for what you have, he will not 
 buy it at any price/ 
 
 "Dr. Kehoe stated that he had resided a year on the 
 west coast of Africa; that he had greatly turned his atten- 
 tion to the means of promoting civilization there, and had 
 made inquiries from all persons who trade upon the coast, 
 both from the native and other merchants resident there. 
 He had not the least doubt that civilization would, in the 
 course of time, be enormously promoted by legitimate trade; 
 or that any amount for whicli we had a demand, whether 
 of palm or other vegetable oils of a similar kind, could be 
 produced. That a largely increased quantity could be given 
 by tlie natives for their own immediate benefit ; and that 
 he had no doubt that it would be a most important means 
 of gradually civilizing the inhabitants, and checking the 
 slave-trade, since it w^ould be found that slaves could be 
 profitably employed as domestic servants, and that it would 
 gradually become the interest of their masters to keep them 
 at home, and thus that the natives would be benefited in 
 every possible way. That tliere is an increasing taste among 
 the natives for articles e:enerallv used in civilized life. That 
 
ELiEIS. 197 
 
 a naked savage, who has been taken out of a slaver, after 
 passing a few years at Sierra Leone, becomes a consumer 
 of almost every European article ; the women dress in silks 
 and satins, and the men in cloth, and acquire comfortable 
 houses, and furnish them. That, from his knowledge of 
 the character of the natives, he thinks we have every 
 reason to hope that they will go on progressing in civilized 
 tastes, and that every additional tun of palm-oil that is im- 
 ported into this country is a blessing to Africa, as tending 
 to assist this progress. 
 
 "The latest published work bearing upon the palm-oil 
 and slave trades, that I am acquainted with, is 'Dahomey 
 and the Dahomans,^ a journal of missions to the King of 
 Dahomey, in the years 1849 and 1850, by Captain Forbes, 
 R.N. He says, ''The inhabitants of a vast extent of coast 
 have been led to give up the slave-trade ; and why ? Be- 
 cause they have been taught the immense increase of the 
 value of the palm-oil trade over that in slaves. . . . The 
 taste for British goods runs high, and if these could not be 
 purchased wdth slaves, palm-oil would be manufactured to 
 obtain them.' Speaking of South-western Africa, where 
 the sale of relations still exists, he says, 'Strength ever 
 predominated, and the father either sold liis son in his 
 
198 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 boyhood, or ran the risk of changing the positions, when 
 the son, now the strongest, bound the father, and sold him 
 to foreign slavery/ He further says, ' One-third, at least, 
 of the extent of the slave coast has been already conquered 
 by civilization and legal traffic, and it requires perseverance 
 alone to reduce the remainder. All the high-roads to Cen- 
 tral Africa, the Delta of the Niger, — in wliicli I include 
 the Benin, the Cameroons, the Calabars, etc., — have sub- 
 mitted to the laws of civilization, and the inhabitants scout 
 with disgust the idea of selling their fellow-men. . . . The 
 Africans are by nature great traders ; all the higher articles 
 of trade are to be found on board some of the largest 
 trading ships in the world in the Bonny, and its neighbour- 
 ing rivers, in order to be exchaiiged for palm-oil.'' ^^ 
 
 There are, in various countries, raw materials which can- 
 not be — or rather are not — gathered without the entire de- 
 struction of the plants producing them. The disappear- 
 ance of the Gutta-percha trees in the Indian Archipelago is 
 a deplorable instance of this kind ; but a still more deplo- 
 rable one is the rapid destruction of all the magnificent 
 Quina-forests of South America, — a process by which, in a 
 few years, they will be numbered amongst those things that 
 have been, making it even problematical whether the seeds 
 
ELJillS. 199 
 
 necessary for propagating them by artificial means will then 
 be obtainable. The demand for Quinine and Cinchonine 
 will no doubt go on, as it has done, increasing ; and how 
 great will be the dilemma when the supply begins to fail ! 
 when the poor fever-stricken patient will be longing in vain 
 for the remedy, at present so effectually employed in curing 
 the malady with which he is afflicted ; and the physician 
 search, perhaps without result, for a suitable substitute to 
 alleviate the sufferings which he is called upon to heal ! 
 Professor Miquel, at Amsterdam, foreseeing this dilemma, 
 presented a few years ago a memorial to the Dutch Mi- 
 nistry, setting forth the fatal consequences which the ex- 
 termination of those forests would ultimately produce, and 
 urging the adoption of some practical remedy. His me- 
 morial was received with much favour. A competent 
 person, Mr. Hasskarl, was at once despatched to South 
 America, in order to collect information and seeds necessary 
 for establishing plantations; and at present thousands of 
 young plants flourish in the mountainous districts of Java, 
 insuring to Holland, for ages to come, the use of that in- 
 valuable medicine. Quinine. It would be well if nations 
 who, like the Dutch, have colonial possessions, were to imi- 
 tate this example ; and if those naturalists of this country, 
 
200 POPDLAE HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 who, like Professor Miquel iu Holland, have the ear of the 
 Government, would use that advantage to urge the esta- 
 blishment of Quina plantations, on a large scale, in the 
 higlier districts of some of the West India Islands, or in 
 British India, they would, by doing so, not only receive 
 from their contemporaries the highest approbation for sa- 
 gacity, but also be justly entitled to the blessings of posterity 
 for the inestimable benefits conferred. It is a matter of 
 congratulation that the collecting of palm-oil does not, like 
 the gutta-percha and quina-bark, involve the total de- 
 struction of the tree yielding it, as the fruit is the only part 
 gathered, — a fact rendering the trade in that oil of a very 
 solid nature, and the deductions derived from it still more 
 certain. 
 
 The genus ElmSj to which the Oil Palm belongs, is dis- 
 tinguished by its decumbent trunk, serrated petioles, pin- 
 natisect leaves with linear segments, monoecious flowers, 
 and ovate-angular, one-seeded fruits (drupes), with oily 
 husks, of a bright vermilion or a more or less yellow colour. 
 There are only two species, both cultivated in our gardens, 
 one being a native of jVfrica {Elaeis Gumee7isis, Linn.), the 
 other a native of America {K melanococca, Gsertn.). The 
 fruit of both yields oil, but that of the American species 
 
ELiEIS. 201 
 
 has not yet played such a prominent part in commerce as 
 that of its congener. Besides the oil^ the Africans prepare 
 from Eheis Guineensis palm-soup, a disli which, the late 
 Dr. Theodore Yogel informs us in Hooker's ' Niger Mora/ 
 " when made of boiled palm-nuts onli/j is very well flavoured. 
 The natives pick the nuts off those young trunks which have 
 not yet lost any of their leaves, and consider them as supe- 
 rior to the fruit of older plants ; they also cut down the 
 trunks to collect palm-wine.''' 
 
 The American species [Elms melanococca, Gsertn., E. Per- 
 nambiicana, Lodd. ?, Alfonsia olei/era, H.B.K.), the Caiaue 
 of the Brazilians, and the Corozo Colorado of the Yenezuelians 
 and New Granadians, I have repeatedly met with in the 
 Isthmus of Panama, where it is very common. It is always 
 found in swampy, shady places, never on dry ground, or in 
 sunny, exposed positions. The trunk, which is short and 
 thick, creeps along the ground, and has generally so very few 
 roots that it is a task of no difficulty to overturn a whole plant 
 by a single kick of the foot. The leaves are mostly twenty- 
 four feet long — I have measured them accurately — and from 
 them are manufactured ropes in some parts of New Granada, 
 according to Mr. Jervis, a gentleman who has resided in that 
 country. The fruit is red or vermilion-colour, hence the 
 
202 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 vernacular narnCj Corozo Colorado. In order to extract the 
 oil, the fruit, after having been boiled in water, is crushed 
 in a wooden mortar until the husk [sarcocarjnum) is sepa- 
 rated from the seed, and the oil floats on the surface of 
 the liquid mass thus produced. The oil is generally used 
 both in private houses and churches, but I do not think it 
 has as yet been exported in any large quantity. 
 
 Genus XXII. EUGEISSONIA, Griffith. 
 
 In forests on the hills about Ching, Malacca, and in 
 Penang, occurs very commonly a stemless Palm, which the 
 Malays term vernacularly "Bertam,'' and which Griffith"^ 
 has made the type of a new genus — Engeissonia — distin- 
 guished by its inflorescence, its indefinite number of stamens, 
 and the peculiar structure of the seed, from all other East 
 Indian genera of the tribe {Calamece or Lepidocar^ece), to 
 which it belongs. Eugeissonia tristis, Grifiith — that is the 
 name of the typical species alluded to — has not yet been 
 introduced into our gardens. It grows in thick tufts, sur- 
 
 * ' Palms of British East India,' by the late William Griffith, etc. Ar- 
 ranged by John M'CleUand, etc. Calcutta, 1850. 
 
EUTERPE. 203 
 
 rounded by the remnants of its old foliage. The leaves are 
 very numerous, the outer ones spreading, fifteen to twenty 
 feet in length, and pinnatisect, with linear segments from 
 two to two and a half feet long, and armed, like the petiole 
 and spathes, with prickles. The flowers are terminal, and 
 dioecious, and the fruit densely covered with brown scales, 
 and in general outline resemble an inverted pear. There is 
 only one seed. 
 
 According to Lewis, the leaves of this plant are used in 
 Penang in making mats for the sides of houses, for thatch, 
 and the same purposes as those of ISijia fruticans. 
 
 Genus XXIII. EUTERPE, Martins. 
 
 One of the first and oft-repeated cries a stranger hears 
 on lauding at the city of Para, in Brazil, will be that of 
 " Assai — i," proceeding from Indian and Xegro girls, who 
 are walking in the streets with small earthen pots on their 
 heads. " If you call one of these dusky maidens,'' says 
 Wallace, " she wiU set down her pot, filled with a thick 
 creamy liquid, of a fine plum-colour and a peculiar nut- 
 flavour. You may not perhaps think a great deal of this 
 
204 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 beverage at firsts but if you drink it repeatedly, you will 
 inevitably become so fond of it as to consider ' Assai' one 
 of the greatest luxuries the place produces. It is generally 
 taken with farinha, tlie substitute for bread, prepared from 
 the man diocca- plant, and with or without sugar, according 
 to the taste of the consumer. We had frequently opportu- 
 nities of seeing the preparation of this beverage. Two or 
 three large bunches of fruit are shaken and stripped by the 
 women into an earthen vessel ; tepid water is then poured 
 on them, which soon becomes tinged with purple. In about 
 an hour the outer pulp of the fruit has become soft enough 
 to rub off. The greater part of the water is now poured 
 away, a little cold added, and a damsel, with no sleeves to 
 turn up, plunges both hands into the vessel, and rubs and 
 kneads with great perseverance, adding fresh water as it is 
 required, until the whole of the purple covering of the fruit 
 has been rubbed off and the greenish stones become bare. 
 The liquid, poured through a wicker sieve into another ves- 
 sel, is now ready for use. The smiling hostess will then fill 
 a calabash, and give you another with farinha to mix to your 
 taste ; and nothing will delight her more than your empty- 
 ing your rustic basin and asking her to fill it again. The 
 inhabitants of Para are excessively attached to this beverage. 
 
EUTEllPE. 205 
 
 and many of them never pass a day without partaking of it. 
 They are particularly favoured in being able to get it at all 
 seasons^ for though in most places the trees only bear for a 
 few months once in the year, yet in the neighbourhood of 
 Para there is so much variety of soil and aspect, that within 
 a day or two^s journey there is always some ripe Assai to 
 supply the market. Boys climb up the trees to get it, with 
 a cord round the ankles, and with its own leaves make a 
 neatly-interlaced basket to carry their harvest home. Trom 
 the great island of Marajo, its Igaripes, (a small stream, 
 literally ' path of the canoe,^) and marshes, from the rivers 
 Guama and Mojii, from the thousand islands in the river, 
 and from the vast Palm swamps in the depths of the forest, 
 baskets filled with the fruit are brought every morning to 
 the city, where half the population look to the Assai to 
 supply a daily meal, and hundreds are said to make it, with 
 farinha, almost their main subsistence.''^ 
 
 The Palm producing the iVssai is Euterpe edulis, Mart., 
 (not, as Wallace has stated, Euterpe oleracea, Mart.,) a tree 
 with a slender trunk, often swollen at the base, and berries 
 in shape, size, and colour resembling the fruit of the sloe. 
 
 The terminal leaf-bud of Euterpe oleracea, Mart., a native 
 of Brazil, and Euterpe niontana, Grab., a native of Yenezuela, 
 
206 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 and probably that of several others, if not all species of this 
 genus, is both used and misused ; — used as a fresh vegetable 
 or a pickle ; misused, as in order to obtain it a whole tree 
 has to be sacrificed. Palms, be it remembered, not having 
 the power of forming regular side-branches. 
 
 The genus Euterpe is confined to the forests of tropical 
 South America, where it generally forms separate groves. 
 The trunks are sometimes one hundred feet high, and, hke 
 all other parts of the plant, unarmed. The leaves are ter- 
 minal, few in number, pinuatisect, and have linear segments. 
 The flowers are monoecious, and the berries round, one- 
 seeded, and of a dark purple colour. Three species are 
 cultivated in our conservatories — Euterjoe edulisj Mart., E. 
 montaiia, Grah., and E. oleracea, Mart. 
 
 Genus XXIV. GEOXOMA, WiUdenoiv. 
 
 Geonoma is an extensive genus, scattered over the forests 
 of tropical America, between the 20th of south and the 
 10th dejjjree of north latitude. Sometimes the trunk is 
 entirely wanting; but in cases where present it has a reed- 
 like aspect, is ringed, smooth, polished, and crowned at the 
 
GUILIELMA. 207 
 
 extremity with either quite entire, or more or less spHt and 
 pinnatisect leaves. The spadixes appear in the axil of the 
 petioles, and are arranged in spikes, or sometimes in panicles. 
 The flowers are monoecious, and more or less intensely yel- 
 low or purple, the male ones bearing six stamens. The 
 berries are ovate or nearly globose, and one-seeded, but of 
 an insipid taste and an obscure colour. 
 
 Their trunks are occasionally used for walking-canes, their 
 fohage for thatch, but they do not seem to be employed in 
 any other way. On account of their small size, the different 
 species are great favourites in our gardens.^ 
 
 Genus XXY. GUILIELMA, Martius. 
 
 A lofty, rather slender trunk, armed with black spines 
 and crowned with pinnatisect leaves, having linear segments 
 and spiny petioles, simply branched spadices, growing from 
 
 * Hermann Wendland has given the following list of the cultivated spe- 
 cies : — Geonoma acutiflora. Mart. {G. iacidifera, Kth.) ; G. diversa, Kth. ; 
 G.fragilis, Ilort. Paris. ; G.fragrans, Hort. Germ, ; G, interrupta ? Mart. ; 
 G. maxima, Kth. ; G. pinnatifrons, WiUd. ; G. Fortiana, Hort. ; G. put- 
 chella, Hort. ; G. Schottiana, Mart. ; G. simplicifrons, WiUd. ((r. Willde- 
 novoli, KI.) ; G. Spixiana, Mart, ; G. imdulata, Kl., and two other unde- 
 termined species. 
 
208 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 beneath the fohage, and bearing monoecious green or yel- 
 lowish flowers, and large, ovate, fleshy or mealy drupes, of 
 a yellowish -red colour, are the most striking features of 
 Guilielma, a genus composed of three species [G. Macaha, 
 Mart., G. speciosa, Mart., and G. spectabilis, Mart.), indige- 
 nous to Xew Granada, Venezuela, the Guianas, and Brazil, 
 and cultivated in our gardens. 
 
 The best known and most widely-difTused species is Giii- 
 lielma sjieciosa. Mart., the Piritu or Pirijao of Venezuela, 
 the Pupunha of the Amazon district, and the Paripou of 
 Guiana, first brought into notice by Aublet, Humboldt 
 and Bonpland, and lately described in popular language by 
 Wallace. It has a slender, cylindrical trunk, thickly set 
 with long, needle-shaped spines, disposed in rings or bands. 
 It reaches sixty feet in height, and grows quite erect, though 
 in exposed situations it becomes curved and waving. The 
 leaves are very numerous, terminal, pinnatisect, and droop- 
 ing, forming a nearly spherical crown to the trunk; and 
 their segments growing out from the midrib in various di- 
 rections, and being themselves curled or waved, give the 
 whole mass of foliage a singularly plumy appearance. The 
 leaves of the young plants are entire, like those of the 
 Bussu {Mamcaria saccifera, Gsertn.), but as the age of the 
 
GUILIELMA. 209 
 
 tree increases, tliey break up into regular narrow segments. 
 The spadices grow from beneatli the leaves, and are small, 
 simply branched, and drooping. The spathes are ventri- 
 cose, AToody, and persistent, curving over the spadix. The 
 fruit is about the size of an apricot, of a triangular oval 
 shape, and fine reddish-yellow colour. In most instances 
 the seed is abortive, the whole fruit being a farinaceous 
 mass. Occasionally however fruits are found containing 
 the perfect stony seed, and they are then double the usual 
 size. The tree is not found wild in the Amazon district, 
 but is invariably planted. In the Indians' villages, about 
 the houses, many hundreds of these trees may often be seen, 
 adding to the beauty of the landscape, and supplying an 
 abundance of wholesome food ; in fact it here takes the 
 place of the Cocoa-nut tree in the East Indies, and is al- 
 most as much esteemed as that is. Climbing this Palm 
 being, on account of the prickly trunk, impossible, the 
 Indians construct rough stages up the sides of the trees, or 
 form rude ladders, by securing cross pieces between two of 
 them, by which they mount so high as to be able to pull 
 down the bunches of fruit with hooked poles. The fruits 
 are eaten either boiled or roasted, when they somewhat re- 
 semble Spanish chestnut.% but they have a peculiar oily 
 
 p 
 
210 POPXJLAE HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 flavour ; they are also ground up into a kind of flour, and 
 made into cakes, which are roasted like cassava bread ; or 
 the meal is fermented in water, and forms a subacid, creamy 
 liquid. Parrots, macaws^ and many other birds devour them,, 
 and tame monkeys eat them greedily, though the wild ones 
 cannot cHmb the spiny stems to obtain them. The wood 
 of this tree, when old and black, is exceedingly hard, turn- 
 ing the edge of any ordinary axe. When Mr. Wallace de- 
 scended the Eiver Uaupes in April, 1852, he had a number 
 of parrots, whose objections to any restraint upon their 
 liberty caused him much trouble. Their first cage was 
 made of wicker, and in a couple of hours the birds had all 
 set themselves at liberty. Then tough green wood was 
 tried, but the same time only was required to gnaw that 
 through ; thick bars of deal were bitten through in a sin- 
 gle night. He then tried the hard wood of the Pashiiiba 
 [Iriartea exJiorrhiza, Mart.) ; this checked them for a short 
 time, but in less than a week, by continual gnawing, they 
 had chipped these away, and again escaped. He now began 
 to des])air ; no iron for bars was to be procured, and his 
 resources were exhausted, when one of his Indians recom- 
 mended him to try Pupiinha, assuring him that if their 
 beaks were of iron they could not bite that. A tree was 
 
Plate M 
 
 iTiju-: -It. r ii'ji 
 
 ivlauntia ■'/inifera 3ia?T 
 
 ■ in<-r.t _"T.-;j^' .nr 
 
^ 
 
GUILTELMA. 211 
 
 accordingly felled, aud bars made from it, and he had the 
 satisfaction of seeing that their most persevering efforts now 
 made little impression. 
 
 The sharp, needle-like spines of this tree are used by 
 some Indian tribes to puncture the skin, in order to pro- 
 duce the tattooed marks with, which they decorate various 
 parts of their bodies. Soot, produced from burning pitch, 
 rubbed into the wounds, is said to make the indelible bluish 
 stain which these markings present. 
 
 Humboldt, speaking of this noble Palm, says : — " The 
 Indians and the missionaries of the settlement of San Fran- 
 cisco, in Venezuela, are unwearied in their praises of this 
 noble Palm-tree, which might be called the Peacji Palm. 
 We found it cultivated in abundance at San Fernando, San 
 Baltasar, Santa Barbara, and wherever we advanced towards 
 the south or the east along the banks of the Atabapo and 
 Upper Orinoco. In those wild regions we are involuntarily 
 reminded of the assertion of Linnseus, that the country of 
 Palm-trees was the first abode of our race, and that man is 
 essentially palmivorous. On examining the provision accu- 
 mulated in the huts of the Indians, we perceive that their 
 subsistence during several months of the year depends as 
 much on the farinaceous fruit of the Pirijao as on the Cas- 
 
212 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 sava and Plantain. The tree bears fruit but once a year, 
 but to the amount of three clusters, consequently from one 
 hundred and fifty to two hundred fruits." 
 
 Genus XXYI. HYOPHOEBE, GcsHmr. 
 
 The islands of Bourbon and Mauritius produce the only 
 representative [Ilt/oj^horhe Indica, Gsertn., H. lutescens, 
 Hort., Areca lutescens, Bory, A. alba, Hort.) of this genus, 
 whicli is cultivated in our gardens. It is a middle-sized, 
 unarmed tree, with a cylindrical, annulated trunk, about 
 thirty feet high, and from four to six inches in diameter. 
 The leaves are terminal, pinnatisect; the flowers are dioe- 
 cious, and white; the berries one-seeded, and resembling 
 olives in shape and colour. 
 
 Genus XXVII. HYOSPATHE, Martius, 
 
 The virgin forests of Brazil, near the confluence of the 
 rivers Amazon and Tocantins, are the localities in which 
 Kyosjijathe elegans, Mart., the only representative of the 
 
HYPHiENE. ^13 
 
 genus, has hitherto been met with. The natives term it 
 Tajassa-ubi. It is a reed-like Palm, allied to the genus 
 Chamcedorea, and attains the height of about six feet ; its 
 trunk is straight and annulated, bearing terminal and lateral 
 leaves, which are either entire, and nearly divided into two 
 lobes at the point, or more or less pinnatisect : they make 
 excellent thatch. The flowers are of a pale yellow, and 
 monoecious, the male ones having six stamens ; the berries 
 are one-seeded, violet, and resemble olives in shape. In our 
 gardens this plant is still a desideratum. 
 
 Genus XXYIII. HYPH^XE, Gartner. 
 
 This genus is diffused, with the exception of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, over the whole of the continent of Africa, and 
 parts of Arabia. The trunk is about thirty feet high, and 
 ringed, and differs essentially from those of most Palms by 
 being branched. The leaves are terminal, and fan-shaped, 
 the flowers dioecious, and pale yellow or reddish. The fruit 
 is of a yeUowish-brown colour, and grows in large bunches ; 
 it has a thick, mealy rind, which has very much the look 
 
214 POPULAR HISTORY 01' PALMS. 
 
 and taste of gingerbread, on account of which Hyphcene 
 Thebaicaj Mart. (Corijpha Thebaica, Linn., JDouma Thebaica, 
 Poir.^ Hyphcene cuciferaj Pers., and, according to J. Smith, 
 Parinarhim Senegalense), the Doom Palm of Egypt, has 
 obtained the popular name of " Gingerbread-tree.''^ A 
 beautiful representation of this unique tree is given in our 
 Plate, where it is seen in one of its favourite locaHties on 
 the banks of the Nile, in the neighbourhood of the cata- 
 racts. It is difficult to speak with any degree of certainty 
 of the geographical limits of H. Thebaica, as its synonymy 
 is very confused. In the Museum at Kew there are a con- 
 siderable number of fruits of Hyphcene : some of them were 
 brought from Port Natal by Captain Garden, some from the 
 Gulf of Guinea by Mr. Daniel, and some were sent from 
 Egypt by the late Dr. Bromfield, an examination of which 
 has inclined me to the belief that the characters by which 
 the various species are at present defined are most unsatis- 
 factory, and unless better ones can be substituted, all the 
 supposed species must be reduced to one. Eresh seeds of 
 tliis genus, Mr. John Smith informs me, vegetate readily, 
 but the young plants are of slow and precarious growth, 
 there being no good specimen of them in England. 
 
 The wood of the Gingerbread- tree is used in Africa for 
 
IIYPlIiENE. ^15 
 
 various domestic purposes ; the rind of the fruit is eaten, 
 the kernel turned into beads for rosaries. Dr. Liudley has 
 stated (Vegetable Kingdom, ed. i. p. 137), that Egyptian 
 Bdellium, a gum-resinous substance, formerly employed as 
 a diuretic and diaphoretic, is obtained from this Palm ; but 
 he does not give his authority, and 1 have not been able 
 to meet with a confirmation of his statement in any other 
 botanical work. 
 
 My esteemed friend, Edward Yogel, the great African 
 traveller, alludes, in one of his letters to Dr. Augustus 
 Petermann — dated Kuka, July 13, 1854, and published in 
 the 'Bonplandia' (vol. iii. p. 13) — to a Palm which, I 
 think, must be closely allied to Hyp}i<2ne. He says : — " A 
 beautiful tree, about forty feet high, which forms on the 
 banks of the Lake of Tuberi extensive forests, is the Deleb 
 Palm (as it is termed in Nubia). The leaves are fan- 
 shaped, very much resembling those of the Doom, only 
 they are larger and of a more lively green, and they form a 
 dense and fine crown. The trunk is smooth, and never 
 divides. The fruits weigh about four or five pounds each ; 
 they are from eight to nine inches long, and from six to 
 seven inches thick, oval-shaped, and dark yellow ; they 
 consist of a thick, fibrous rind, including three seeds. 
 
# 
 
 216 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 The rind contains a rather bitter but by no means dis- 
 agreeable juice,, which in taste and smell reminds one of 
 Pine-apple/'"^ 
 
 Geuus XXIX. lEIAETEA, Ruiz et Pavon. 
 
 I well remember when I saw for the first time one of the 
 uses to which this genus is applied. It was on the 22nd of 
 September, 1845. I had been all day ascending the Chagres, 
 one of the rivers of the Isthmus of Panama, in a small canoe 
 roofed over Mith palm-leaves, and was therefore heartily 
 glad when at dusk our party halted near a sandy spit. My 
 men at once set to work preparing their supper. A fire 
 was kindled, and after a large pot, filled with rice and 
 water, had been placed on it, they brought forward a num- 
 ber of cocoa-nuts and several very peculiar-looking cylin- 
 ders, which at first sight I mistook for those barrels seen in 
 musical boxes and hurdy-gurdies, being covered with small 
 tubercular prickles, but which to my astonishment were 
 used instead of graters for reducing the inside of the cocoa- 
 imts to a pulpy mass, to be boiled with the rice and water. 
 
 * "We cultivate in our gardens Hi/phcene Feiersiana, Kl., and H. Thebaica, 
 Mart. — Wendl. Index Palm. p. 24. 
 
IRIARTEA. 217 
 
 I afterwards found that these graters were the aerial roots 
 of the Zaiiora Palm of the country [Iriartea exorrhiza, 
 Mart.), and that they were in common use in the Isthmus; 
 and I now learn from AYallace^s work that the same is the 
 case in the Amazon district, countries in which, from the 
 excessively moist climate, tin graters soon get rusty, making 
 these provided by nature very acceptable. Two of these 
 graters I have sent to the Museum of Economic Botany at 
 Kew, where they are exhibited amongst the other produc- 
 tions of Palms. The roots here alluded to are common to 
 Iriartea exorrhiza and several allied species, including I. 
 ventricosa, Mart., figured in our Plate. They spring from 
 the trunk, each from a higher point than the last, and ex- 
 tend diagonally downwards until they approach the ground, 
 when they often divide into many rootlets, each of which 
 secures itself to the soil. As fresh ones appear, those be- 
 low them decay and die off; and it is not uncommon to 
 see a lofty tree supported entirely by three or four roots, so 
 that a person may walk erect beneath them, or stand with a 
 tree seventy feet high growing immediately over his head. 
 
 The genus Iriartea [Cerox^lon, H.B.K.) is peculiar to 
 the forests of South America. Its trunks are erect, an- 
 nulated, and unarmed. Its leaves are terminal, pinnatisect, 
 
218 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 the segments of which are often trapeziform^ plicated and 
 divided in toothed or truncated lobes. The flowers are 
 monoecious^ and more or less intensely yellow, and their 
 fruitj a one-seeded berry, is of a green or yellowish-brown, 
 and sometimes of almost a black colour. About nine spe- 
 cies have hitherto been discovered, several of which are 
 cultivated in our gardens."^ 
 
 Iriartea exorrhiza, Mart., the best-known species, is 
 termed in Brazil " Pashiuba,^'' or " Paxiiiba," and attains 
 the height of fifty to sixty feet. The trunk is slender, and 
 its wood is very hard on the outside, but soft and pithy 
 within. It splits easily and very straight, and is on that 
 account much used in its native country for forming the 
 floors of canoes, the ceilings of houses, shelves, seats, etc., 
 and is also exported in great quantities to the United States 
 for umbrella sticks. The trunks of this Palm are also used 
 for making the Juriparis (or Devils), musical instruments, 
 played upon by the Indians dwelling on the banks of the 
 river Uaupes, in their Dabocuris (festas). Mr. Spruce, the 
 
 * /. aUissima, Kl. ; I. Andicola, Spr. {Ceroxylon Andicola, H. et B.) ; 
 /. ferrucjinea, Hort. (C. ferrugineum, Hort.) ; /. Klopstockia, Hort. {C. 
 Klopstockia, Mart., Klopstockia cerifera, Karst.) ; /. niveum, Hort. (C. ni- 
 veu7n, Hort.) ; and /. pramorsa, Kl. 
 
IRIAKTEA. 219 
 
 meritorious traveller, on sending specimens of these instru- 
 ments to the Museum at Kew, accompanied them with the 
 following note : — " The two larger instruments are portions 
 of the trunk of the Paxiiiba [Iriartea exorrkiza), with a 
 square hole near the upper extremity. When about to be 
 u§ed, this end is nearly closed by a piece of clay, and a piece 
 of Uaruma-leaf is tied on above the square hole, so as to 
 form a monster flageolet. The smaller ones consist of a tube 
 of Paxiiiba, wrapped in a long strip of the tough bark of 
 the Jebarii (a Csesalpineous tree, with handsome red mo- 
 nopetalous flowers, apparently the Parivoa graiidiflora of 
 Aublet), which descends in widening folds to some distance 
 below the tube, thus forming a sort of trumpet, which is 
 simply blown into at the upper end/' 
 
 AVallace, who was for a long time the travelHng com- 
 panion of Spruce, has thus alluded to the Juripari of the 
 Indians: — ^'One evening,^' he says, ^*^ there was a caxire- 
 drinking ; and a little before dark a sound as of trom- 
 bones and bassoons was heard coming on the river to- 
 wards the village, and presently appeared eight Indians, 
 each playing on a great bassoon-looking instrument. They 
 had four pairs, of different sizes, and produced a wild and 
 pleasing sound : they blew them all together, tolerably in 
 
220 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 concert, to a simple tune, and showed more taste for music 
 than I had yet seen displayed among these people. The 
 instruments are made of bark, spirally twisted, and with 
 a mouthpiece of leaves. In the evening I went to the ma- 
 locca, and found two old men playing on the largest of the 
 instruments ; they waved them about in a singular manner, 
 vertically and sideways, accompanied by corresponding dis- 
 tortions of the body, and played a long while in a regular 
 tune, accompanying each other very correctly. From the 
 moment the music was first heard, not a female, old or 
 young, was to be seen ; for it is one of the strangest su- 
 perstitions of the Uaupes Indians, that they consider it so 
 dangerous for a woman ever to see one of these instru- 
 ments, that having done so is punished with death, generally 
 by poison ; even should the view be perfectly accidental, or 
 should there be only a suspicion that the proscribed articles 
 have been seen, no mercy is shown ; and it is said that 
 fathers have been the executioners of their own daughters, 
 and husbands of their wives, when such has been the case. 
 I was of course anxious to purchase articles to which such 
 curious customs belong, and spoke to the Tushaiia on the 
 subject. He at length promised to sell them me on my 
 return, stipulating that they were to be embarked at some 
 
miARTEA. 221 
 
 distance from the village^ that there might be no danger of 
 their being seen by the women/' 
 
 Mr. Wallace tells us also something about another species 
 of this genus [Iriartea seiigera, Mart.) ; he says : — " One 
 day I accompanied the Indian with whom I lived into the 
 forest^ to get trunks for a blow-pipe. We went_, about a 
 mile off, to a place where numerous small Palms were grow- 
 ing : they were the Iriartea setigera of IMartius, from ten 
 to fifteen feet high, and varying from the thickness of one's 
 finger to two inches in diameter : they appear jointed oat- 
 side from the scars of the fallen leaves, but within have a 
 soft pith, which when cleared out leaves a smooth polished 
 bore. My companion selected several of the straightest he 
 could find, both of the smallest and largest diameter; these 
 trunks were carefully dried in the house, the pith cleared 
 out with a long rod made of the wood of another Palm, and 
 the bore rubbed clean and polished with a little bunch of 
 roots of a tree-fern pulled backwards and forwards through 
 it. Two trunks are selected, of such a size that the smaller 
 can be pushed inside the larger; this is done so that any 
 curve in the one may counteract that in the other ; a coni- 
 cal w^ooden mouthpiece is then fitted on to one end, and 
 sometimes the whole is spirally bound with the smooth. 
 
222 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 black, shining bark of a creeper. Arrows, made of the 
 nerves of the sheathing base of the Patawa {(Enocarpus 
 Baiaiva), which remaining when the parenchyma decays, 
 pointed, and anointed with poison, and with a little conical 
 tuft of tree-cotton (the silky covering of the seeds of a 
 Bomhacece), at the other end, fill up exactly, but not tightly, 
 the bore of the tube ; these arrows are carried in a wicker 
 quiver, well covered with pitch at the lower part, so that 
 it can be inverted in wet weather, to keep the arrows dry. 
 The blowpipes, or gravatdna^, are the principal weapon 
 here ; every Indian has one, and seldom goes into the forest 
 or on the rivers without it.^^ 
 
 Another species of Iriartea deserving notice is the Wax 
 Palm of the Andes, I. Ajidicola, Spr. [Ceroxylan Andlcola, 
 Humb. et Bonpl.), one of the little-known, small group of 
 mountain or alpine Palms — the oppositam of the numerous 
 littoral Palms. "I found this tree," says Humboldt in a 
 letter to me, " in the Cordillera at the Pass of Quindiu, be- 
 tween Ibague and Cartago, not lower on the declivity than 
 7930, not higher than 9700 English feet (you could say in 
 .your 'Popular History of the Palms^ between 7900 and 
 9700 EngUsh feet), in company with Podocarpus trees, and 
 Quercus Granatensis" 
 
IRIARTEA. 2^3 
 
 " The lofty, noble trunks of this tree/' says W. Purdie, 
 " are covered with a coating of resin-like wax,^ which gives 
 them a white and marble-like appearance, imparting a lively 
 feature in the scenery, so peculiar to the Paramo of Quindiu, 
 where the Palm abounds to an extraordinarv des^ree, with- 
 out any apparent injury to the noble but subordinate forest 
 beneath its grateful shade. To obtain the wax the tree 
 must be felled ; and I was informed by my guides that each 
 tree gives an arroba, or twenty-five pounds. A man will cut 
 down and scrape two trees in a day, giving fifty pounds 
 at least. The wax is used, mixed with tallow, for making 
 candles (alone it is said to burn too rapidly) ; it is also used 
 alone, as wax candles, for offerings to the saints and the 
 Virgin, tallow being prohibited by the laws or rubric of the 
 Church of Rome; but the priest of Toche, a small settle- 
 ment at the foot of the Quindiu, told me he could not per- 
 mit its use on high functions or occasions in the Church, it 
 being a resinous production, which the laws of his religion 
 prohibit, thus rendering it impossible for them to take ad- 
 vantage of this extraordinary and easily-obtained natural 
 production ; consequently a large importation of bees'-w ax 
 is introduced for the use of the Church alone. 
 
 * According to Vauquelin this substance consists of one-third wax and 
 two-thirds resin. 
 
224 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 '^ After scraping, it is merely melted and run into cala- 
 bashes, for the use of the villngers in the neighbourhood of 
 the Toleme range. It is sold in the town of Ibague, at the 
 foot of the Quindiu, at threepence, or half a real, per pound ; 
 it is in considerable demand, but is abundant, and easily 
 obtained." 
 
 "This, however," says Bonpland, "is not the only ad- 
 vantage which can be derived from this tree ; the height of 
 its trunk renders it preferable to the other Palms, which are 
 principally used to make canoes, aqueducts, etc. ; its wood 
 is very durable, and deserves also the preference in the con- 
 struction of houses ; its leaves are not less useful than those 
 of Cocos hiityracea, of which the Indians of the Orinoco 
 make all their thatches; lastly, the fiUiments which hang 
 from the base might be used in the same way as those of 
 the Arenga saccJiarifera of the Moluccas, and those furnished 
 by the Chiqid-chiqui Palm of the Spaniards [Maurifia flexu- 
 osa, Linn.), which grows in abundance in the Upper Ori- 
 noco, the Eio Negro, the Amazon, and in nearly all Para. 
 
 " It is interesting to observe that the rings formed by the 
 falling away of the leaves do not exude this inflammable 
 matter; they are truly cicatrices, in which the organiza- 
 tion is destroyed, and where the carbon, separated from the 
 
Flcculd. 
 
 J. ar.T=:-3EV l-u -V L!h 
 
 MftToxvlon RampKii.i^. & Sagus data , Kdm 
 
JUB^A. 225 
 
 hydrogen by the oxygen of the atmosphere, is deposited 
 uncovered." 
 
 Genus XXX. JUBjEA, Hiiinholdt, Bonpland^ et Kunth. 
 
 The southernmost Palm on the western side of America 
 is the Coquito of Chile, the only representative of Jubcsa 
 (Molinaa), a genus having an arboreous, unarmed trunk, 
 pinnatisect leaves, monoecious, dark yellow flowers, nume- 
 rous stamens, and an obovate, one-seeded drupe. Jiihcea 
 s^ecfahilis, H. B. K. (Cocos Chilensis, Mol.), is cultivated 
 not only in its native country, but also in New Granada 
 and other parts of South America ; it has also long been an 
 inmate of European conservatories. " I well remember this 
 graceful Palm," says my learned friend Mr. Miers, in a letter 
 addressed to me; "though not common in those parts of 
 Chile that I have visited, it is often seen here and there, 
 forming one of the greatest ornaments in a beautiful land- 
 scape country. Near where I resided at Concon, two of 
 these Palms grew close together, rearing their straight and 
 tall stems to a height of forty or fifty feet before they threw 
 out their graceful head of widely-spreading leaves. I re- 
 member i\\Q fruit well, and the large spathes enclosing their 
 
 Q 
 
226 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALlNfS. 
 
 copious racemes, which look like gigantic bunches of ver^' 
 large grapes (it is well figured by Humboldt and Kunth, 
 Nov. Gen. vol. i. pi. 96) ; it has a thick fibrous husk like 
 the Cocoa ; its nuts are like full-sized marbles, and indeed 
 are used as a substitute for these toys by the boys of the 
 country; they also find a market among the confectioners 
 of large towns, where they are extensively used in the pre- 
 paration of various sweetmeats. The Jubaa speclabilis ap- 
 pears to abound in the more central provinces of Chile, 
 Avhich lie between the latitudes of 33° and 35° south, but 
 I do not know its southernmost limit. Within the pro- 
 vinces alluded to, they sometimes form naturally almost 
 small forests, the proprietors of which derive a considerable 
 revenue from this source. The profit arises from the pre- 
 paration of a syrup extracted from the trunk, called Miel de 
 Talma (palm honey), which I have often eaten, and which 
 is conveyed as an article of commerce to difi'erent parts of 
 Chile, where it is sold for domestic use, and much esteemed." 
 To obtain the 'miel,' a number of trees are cut down 
 every year. ''When the trunk is lying on the ground," 
 says Darwin, " the crown of leaves is lopped off ; the sap 
 then immediately begins to flow from the upper end, and 
 continues so doing for several months ; it is however neces- 
 
JUB^A. 227 
 
 sary that a thin sHce should be shaved off every morning, so 
 as to expose a fresh surface. A good tree will give ninety 
 gallons, and all this must have been contained in the vessels 
 of the apparently dry trunk. It is said that the sap flows 
 much more quickly on those days when the sun is power- 
 ful; and likewise, that it is absolutely necessary to take 
 care, in cutting down the tree, that it should fall with its 
 head upwards on the side of the hill; for if it falls down 
 the slope, scarcely any sap will flow, although in that case 
 one would have thought that the action would have been 
 aided, instead of checked, by the force of gravity. The sap 
 is concentrated by boiling, and is then called treacle, vrhich 
 it very much resembles in taste.^' 
 
 "I never heard of the existence of the Date Palm in 
 Chile,^' continues Mr. Miers in his above-mentioned letter, 
 " where I do not think it would grow, except in the desert 
 tracts of the north; but I know that it is cultivated in 
 many places along the sandy line of coast of Peru, to the 
 southward of Lima, especially in what are called the ' In- 
 termediate Ports,^' between Callao and Arica. I have seen 
 the Dates brought to Chile from that coast, but never in a 
 fresh state. Molina says they are cultivated in Copiapo . 
 this is not improbable, but if so, they must be a rarity, as 
 
228 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS. 
 
 tliey never find their way to the southward. The common 
 Cocoa-nut trees are not unfrequently seen in Chile along 
 the sea-coast, but I suspect they are only planted for or- 
 nament, as there is hardly heat enough for them ; I am 
 inclined to think so, because I have never seen them pro- 
 duce fruit. They grow only in marine sands, or where they 
 can be fed by salt water. I never heard of the existence 
 of any other Palm in Chile, although Molina mentions one 
 as growing in the island of Juan Ternandez, called Chonta, 
 but that has proved to be a tree-fern, the Thyrsopteris ele- 
 gans of Kunze.''^ 
 
 Genus XXXI. KUNTHIA, Huniboldb et BonplancL 
 
 In the temperate parts of the mountains of New Granada, 
 between Almaguez and Pasto, near San Pablo, grows a reed- 
 like Palm, which is known to the inhabitants of that dis- 
 trict by the name of Cana de la Yibora (Snake-cane), and is 
 the only representative of the genus Kimthia. Its annu- 
 lated trunk is from twenty to twenty-four feet long, about 
 as thick as a finger ; its leaves are terminal and pinnatisect ; 
 its flowers, appearing below the commencement of the fo- 
 
LEOPOLDINIA. 229 
 
 liage, are white, monoecious, and arranged in simple branches; 
 its berries are round, green, one-seeded, and about as large 
 as the fruit of the sloe. 
 
 The wood of the trunk is used by the Indians for making 
 blowing-tubes, through which they discharge their little 
 poisoned arrows. The saccharine juice of it is considered 
 by those people a remedy for the venom of snake-bites, and 
 is either taken internally, or apphed externally to the wound. 
 
 Genus XXXII. LATANIA, Commerson. 
 
 The genus Latania is composed of two species; the one 
 {L. Commersoniij Linn., L, ruhraj Jacq.) being a native of 
 Bourbon and the beautiful island where Paul and Virginia 
 roamed ; the other {L. Loddigesii, Mart.) being a native of 
 equinoctial Africa. The fruit of the former is eaten by the 
 Negroes, but that does not argue much for their taste, and 
 should not lead us to imitation, as it has a rather disagree- 
 able flavour. 
 
 The Latanias are middle-sized trees, with terminal, pal- 
 mate-flabelliform leaves, dioecious flowers, and yellow three- 
 seeded drupes. Latania Commersonii, Mart. [L. rubra, 
 
230 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Jacq., Cleophora lontarioides, Gsertn.), is an inmate of most 
 European conservatories^ and in the Royal Botanic Gardens 
 at Kew there is cultivated another but doubtful species, 
 under the name of L. glaucojpliylla, Hort. Kew. 
 
 Genus XXXIII. LEOPOLDINIA, Martius, 
 
 The few species of which this genus is composed are all 
 natives of the forests of the provinces of Rio Negro and 
 Para, of north-eastern Brazil. They are middle-sized trees, 
 with straight unarmed trunks, crowned with fine pinnatisect 
 leaves, and bearing small monoecious flowers of a reddish 
 colour, and roundish, one-seeded berries, the outside of 
 wliich is of a yellowish-green. 
 
 The trunk of Leopold'mia joulchra, Mart., the Jara or 
 Jara-miri of the natives, is, says Wallace, very smooth and 
 cylindrical ; and being of convenient length, it is much used 
 for fences in the city of Barra do Rio Negro. " The want 
 of neatness out-of-doors,^' he continues, " which is quite a 
 characteristic feature of the Portuguese and Indian settlers 
 on the Amazon, is always apparent in these fences. It is 
 never thought worth while to cut all the poles a uniform 
 
LEOPOLDINIA. 231 
 
 length, but they are set up just as they are brought in from 
 the forest; and the space between two handsome houses 
 in the city is often filled up with a Jara railing of most 
 unpicturesque irregularity. The bright green and glossy 
 foliage also renders this tree suitable for another purpose. 
 On certain saints^-days little altars and green avenues are 
 made before the principal houses in Barra, the Jara Palm 
 being always used to construct them ; and its graceful leaves, 
 rustling in the evening breeze, fitfully reflecting the light of 
 the wax tapers which burn before the images of the saints, 
 with the blazing torches of the rustic procession, produce 
 a very pleasing eifect. ^' 
 
 Wallace has noticed two other species of Leopoldinia 
 {L. major, Wallace, and L. Fiassabaf Wallace). The latter 
 has been considered by me (page 76 of this Work) as a 
 synonym of Attalea fiinifera ; and although since those 
 sheets, containing my description, have gone through the 
 press, Mr. Spruce has endorsed the correctness of Mr. 
 Wallace, in considering the Piassaba of the Eio Negro a 
 Leojooldinia, yet no specimens of it have hitherto reached 
 Europe, and I am still compelled, in the absence of positive 
 information, to leave Leopoldinia Piassaha with Attalea fii- 
 nifera. The former species, Leopoldinia major, Wallace, 
 
232 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 the Jara-assu of the natives, occurs plentifully on the lakes 
 and inlets of the upper Eio Negro. " The Indians/' says 
 its discoverer, '' collect the fruit in large quantities, and by 
 burning and washing extract a floury substance, which they 
 use as a substitute for salt when they cannot procure that 
 article; they assert positively that the smaller species of 
 Jara {L. pulckraj Mart.) will not yield the same product ; 
 but perhaps this may be only because the fruit of that is 
 less abundant, and they do not take the trouble to collect it. 
 Coarse Portuguese salt is used in the Eio Negro, and among 
 the Indians in the upper part of the river it serves as a 
 circulating medium, about a pound of it being reckoned 
 equivalent to a day's work. The supply however is very 
 uncertain, and there are many distant tribes of natives which 
 it scarcely ever reaches; and it is among them that this 
 substitute alluded to is manufactured. 
 
 " It is doubtful however whether the fruit contains any 
 true salt, for the extract is described as being more bitter 
 than saline in its taste; yet with this substance alone to 
 season their fish and cassava, the Indians enjoy almost per- 
 fect health. Perhaps, therefore, mineral salt may not be 
 such a necessary of life as we are accustomed to consider 
 it." 
 
LICUALA. 233 
 
 Genus XXXIV. LEPTDOCABYUM, Martins. 
 
 Lepidocaryum comprises two species of Palms {L. graciUj 
 Mart., and L. tenue, Mart.), wliich grow in the gloomiest 
 parts of the Brazilian forests. They are only a few feet in 
 height. ■ Their leaves are flabelliform, irregularly spHt, 
 and furnished at the margin with minute prickles. Their 
 flowers are polygamo-dioecious, and of a reddish colour ; and 
 their fruit, a one-seeded berry, is covered with scales, like 
 that of Mauritia, Calamus, and other genera of the tribe 
 {Calamme<2) to which these plants belong. Nothing is 
 recorded of their uses ; nor have they as yet been introduced 
 into our gardens. 
 
 Genus XXXV. LICUALA, RumpJiius, 
 
 It was thought for a long time that those well-known 
 walking-sticks, the "Penang Lawyers,^' were the produce 
 of the Betel-nut tree ; but they have now been ascertained 
 to be the young trunks of Licuala acutifida. Mart., — the 
 "Plass tikooss" of the Malays, — a miniatui'e Palm inha- 
 biting Penang, and attaining generally only tliree or five 
 feet, and in exceptional cases from fifteen to twenty feet in 
 
234 POPULAJl HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 height. The " Penang Lawyers" are prepared by scraping 
 the young trunk with glass, so that the epidermis is alto- 
 gether removed, care being taken not to scrape away much 
 more than that, as the inside is like the substance of rattan. 
 It is on this account that the smaller, thinner sticks are so 
 much more sought for than the larger, thicker ones, and are 
 so rare. The sticks are ultimately straightened by fire, and 
 then polished. 
 
 The genus Licuala is confined to the tropical parts of 
 Asia, and composed of about a dozen species, eight of which 
 are in our gardens.* Their trunk, in some species, is 
 marked with rings, and sometimes rough with the persistent, 
 indurated bases of the faded leaves ; their leaves are ter- 
 minal and fan-shaped, with the petioles armed with horny, 
 conical, or often hooked prickles ; their flowers are lateral, 
 hermaphrodite, and their drupes are red or yellow. 
 
 One of the finest species of this genus is Licuala peltata, 
 Eoxb., the " Chattah-pat" of the Assamese, which inhabits 
 all the woody mountains to the eastward of Bengal, as well 
 as the base of the Himalaya, below Darjeling, Eungpore, 
 
 * These are, Licuala elegans, Bl. ; L. gracilis, Bl. ; L. horrida, Bl. 
 {RhapJiis Javanica, Hort.) ; L. nana, Bl. ; L. peltata, Roxb. ; L. pumila, 
 Reinvv. ; L. Rumphii, Bl. \ and L. spinosa, Wurmb. — Wendl. I. c. p. 27. 
 
LIVISTONIA. 235 
 
 and Assam. It is chiefly remarkable on account of its large, 
 peltate, orbicular leaves, which are used, according to Jen- 
 kins, for the same purpose as those of the " Toko-pat'^ of 
 Assam, but are much coarser than the latter, and only em- 
 ployed by the lower order of inhabitants. Nevertheless the 
 demand for them is very great, as scarcely a single plough- 
 man, cow-keeper, or coolie is without his jha'pee or chattah 
 (umbrella-hat), made of " Chattah-pat." 
 
 Genus XXXVI. LIVISTONIA, R. Brown. 
 
 The number of Palms to be found in our conservatories 
 has only of late years become considerable. Formerly it 
 was very limited, chiefly owing to the great difficulty expe- 
 rienced in transmitting the seed to Europe without its losing 
 the germinating power. This difficulty was however at last 
 overcome. "When Allan Cunningham, the King^s botanist, 
 was in New Holland, he sent a case with living plants to 
 the Royal Gardens at Kew, which on being disturbed was 
 found to have, instead of the crocks usually placed at the 
 bottom of sucli cases for drainage, seeds of a Palm, nearly 
 all in process of germination. Cunningham's attendants, too 
 
236 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 indolent to look for the crocks, had substituted the seeds of 
 the Livistonia Australis, which happened to be more handy. 
 These young plants were carefully nursed, and one of them 
 has now become one of the gems of the collection of Palms 
 at Kew j another adorns the chief conservatory at the Eoyal 
 Gardens at Hanover ; and again another the Crystal Palace 
 at Sydenham. The discovery that the seeds of Palms could 
 be introduced most effectually by being in their native 
 country at once placed in mould was not overlooked by 
 Mr. John Smith, the intelligent Curator of Kew Gardens. 
 He made it widely known, and to its diffusion more than 
 to any other circumstance must be mainly ascribed the great 
 increase of the collections of Palms in our horticultural 
 establishments. I availed myself of it during my voyage 
 round the world, and was thus enabled to introduce several 
 rare species into our gardens. 
 
 The Livistonias are natives of Eastern Asia and Austra- 
 lia. Their trunks are generally arboreous, and always un- 
 armed. Their leaves are palmate, their petioles clad at the 
 base with copious fibres, and generally at the edge furnished 
 with spines. Their flowers are hermaphrodite, minute, white, 
 and arranged in axillary panicles; their fruit, a drupe, is 
 often inequilateral, and always of a shining, glossy blue 
 
LIVISTONIA. 237 
 
 colour, which, says Griffith, is one of the characters distin- 
 guishing this genus from its ally, Licuala. 
 
 The Livistonias are more remarkable for their noble as- 
 pect and their elegant foliage than for any peculiar useful 
 quality they possess. Livistonia Jenhinsiana, Griff., (the 
 "Toko-pat" of Assam,) as its discoverer informs us, "is 
 an indispensable accompaniment of every native gentleman's 
 house; but in some parts it is rare, and the trees are then of 
 great value. I cannot call to my recollection having ever 
 seen a 'Toko-pat' undoubtedly wild. The leaves are in 
 universal use throughout Assam for covering the tops of 
 doolees (palanquins) and the roofs of boats; also for making 
 the peculiar hats, or rather umbrella-hats {Jhajoees) of the 
 Assamese." The wood and leaves of the Livistonia rotim- 
 difolia, Mart., a native of Java and Celebes, are employed 
 for various economic purposes, but I have not been able to 
 meet with any records of the useful properties of any of the 
 other species of this genus. In our gardens they are great 
 favourites, and five out of the entire number known "^ are 
 already under cultivation. 
 
 * These are : — Livistonia Australis {Corypha Australis, R. Brown) ; L. 
 Chinensis, Mart. {Latania Chinensis, Jcq., L. Borbonica, Lam., Livistonia 
 
238 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Genus XXXYII. LODOICEA, Labillardiere. 
 
 Of all the Palms, perhaps that which for a long time has 
 been the least known, and yet the most celebrated, is the 
 Double Cocoa-nut, the Coco de mer, Coco de Salomon, and 
 the Coco des Maldives of the French, the Cocos Ilaldivicus 
 of Rumpliius, the Ktix Medica of Clusius, and the Lodoicea 
 Sechellarum of Labillardiere. Until the discovery of the 
 only spot in the world where the nuts grew, in the year 
 1743, they were solely known from having been found float- 
 ing on the surface of the sea in the Indian Ocean and 
 near the Maldive Islands, whence their Trench name was 
 derived ; and even in the time of Rumphius the nuts were 
 spoken of as the " mirum miraculum naturae, quod princeps 
 est omnium marinarum rerum, quae rarse habentur." The 
 nuts were only found floating, destitute of their husk, and 
 mostly with the internal part decayed ; they were called 
 " Calappa Laut" by the Dutch, and under that appellation 
 Rumphius has given an historical account of them ; but fa- 
 
 Mauritiana, Wall., Saribus Chinetisis, Bl.) ; L. Jenlcinsiana, Griff. ; L. oli- 
 vaiformis. Mart. {Saribus oUvceformis, Hassk., Chamcerops Biroo, Hort.) ; 
 and L. rotundifolia, j\Iart. {Corypha rotundifolia. Lam., Saribus rotundi- 
 folius, Blume, Livistonia specfabilis, Griff.?) — Wendl. I. c. p. 26. 
 
LODOICEA. 239 
 
 bulous as it is, he tells us that many other tales were re- 
 lated to him respecting it, too absurd to be repeated. 
 
 The Double Cocoa-nut is not, he assures us, a terrestrial 
 production, which may have fallen by accident into the sea 
 and there become petrified, as Garcia ab Orta relates ; but 
 a fruit probably growing itself in the sea, whose tree has 
 been hitherto concealed from the eye of man. The Malay 
 and Chinese sailors used to affirm that it was borne upon 
 a tree deep under water, which was similar to a Cocoa-nut 
 tree, and was visible in placid bays, upon the coast of Su- 
 matra, etc., but that if they sought to dive after the tree 
 it instantly disappeared. The T^egro priests declared it 
 grew near the island of Java, where its leaves and branches 
 rose above the water, and in which a monstrous bird, or 
 griffin, had its habitation, whence it used to sally forth 
 nightly, and tear to pieces elephants, tigers, and rhinoce- 
 roses with its beak, the flesh of which it carried to its nest ; 
 furthermore they avouched that ships were attracted by the 
 waves which surrounded this tree, and, there retained, the 
 mariners falling a prey to this savage bird, so that the inha- 
 bitants of the Indian Archipelago always carefully avoided 
 that spot. 
 
 With such, and many even more strange ideas respecting 
 
240 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 its ])lace of growth and history, it is not wonderful that this 
 nut should have been highly prized : in the Maldivian Is- 
 lands, it was death to any man to possess it; all nuts that 
 were found became the immediate property of the King, 
 who sold them at a very high price, or offered them as the 
 most precious of regal gift^. Their value was estimated at 
 from 60 to 120 crowns ; but those which measured as much 
 in breadth as in length were the most esteemed ; and those 
 which attained a foot in diameter were sold for 150 crowns ; 
 nay, some kings have been so greedy of obtaining these 
 fruits as to have given a loaded ship for a single one. 
 
 The Chinese as well as the natives of the Archipelago 
 are justly thought by Euraphius to have set perhaps too 
 high a value upon their medicinal properties, in considering 
 them an antidote to all poisons. The principal nrtue re- 
 sided in the albumen which lines the nut, and which is so 
 hard as to be preserved for a length of time after the em- 
 brvo is destroyed. This substance was triturated with water 
 in vessels of porphyry, and, mingled with black and white 
 or red coral, ebony, and stags' horns, was drunk. The 
 Double Cocoa-nut was also thought serviceable in all in- 
 flammations of the body; as a preservative against colic, 
 apoplexy, epilepsy, paralysis, et id ge^im omne. 
 
PlaLtc 16 
 
 .■#" 
 
 
 
 jC-ft-ir^ 
 
 '"iXiter.t j;*coxs jinp 
 
 'OrsodoxsL Dlersu3ea, Marc 
 

LODOICEA. 241 
 
 The great men formed of the shell, which possessed fewer 
 medicinal properties, precious vessels, cutting off a trans- 
 verse slice, which constituted the lid ; and in these they put 
 their tobacco, betel, lime, and whatever else they masticated, 
 believing that then these articles could never be contami- 
 nated by anything noxious. Water kept in it was considered 
 to preserve those who drank of it from every complaint. 
 The discovery of the Seychelles Islands, and the knowledge 
 thence derived, that these nuts grew upon trees, as other 
 Cocoa-nuts, soon reduced their value; and now probably, 
 by the East Indians as by the Europeans, they are only 
 sought as a matter of curiosity, or for domestic purposes. 
 
 The Seychelles, or Mahe Islands, as they are sometimes 
 called, lie to the north-east of Madagascar, in about 5° S. 
 latitude, and 55° E. longitude. It is in this group only 
 that the Palm is found, and among them, on no others than 
 the Isles of Praslin and Curieuse, and Eound Island. These 
 are within half a mile of each other, and are mountainous 
 and rocky.* 
 
 * Mr. R. W. Plant, well known as an ardent explorer of Port Natal, has 
 the following remark about the native country of the Double Cocoa-nut, in 
 a letter, dated Port Natal, April 16, 1855, and addressed to Mr. John Smith, 
 at Kew : — " In the Seychelles I more nearly realized my preconceived ideas 
 of tropical vegetation than at any other place ; — the beach fringed with 
 
 R 
 
242 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 The crown of the trunk, i.e. the heart of the leaves, is 
 eaten like that of the American Cabbage Palm [Oreodoxa 
 oleracea), and often preserved in vinegar; but it is less deli- 
 cate, and slightly bitter. The trunk itself, after being split 
 and cleared of its soft and fibrous parts wathin, serves to 
 make water-troughs, as well as palisades for surrounding 
 houses and gardens. The foliage is employed to thatch the 
 roofs of houses and sheds, and even for walls. With a hun- 
 dred leaves a commodious dwelling may be constructed, 
 including even the partitions of the apartments, the doors 
 and windows. In the Isle of Praslin most of the cabins and 
 warehouses are thus made. The down, attached to the young 
 
 common Cocoa-mits; the ravines and watercourses overhung with Bananas, 
 Bamboos, and three or four indigenous Palms ; the open ground full of Pine- 
 apples — miles of them run wild; the tops of the mountains covered with 
 forests of Ebony and Rosewood, interspersed with Tree-Ferns of some twenty 
 to thirty feet high ; and then these glorious Lodoicece, with their leaves of 
 fifteen to twenty feet span, and trunks reaching to the sky ; to say nothing 
 of groves of Cinnamon and Cloves and Bread-fruit, all new to me in this 
 their natural wildness and beauty: you may believe that I enjoyed it; so 
 much so tliat I nearly forgot the errand that brought me there. We have 
 many beautiful scenes in this country (Natal), and there is much excitement 
 in travelling over it, but it is altogether of a different character ; a savage 
 sternness or mouotonous sameness marks the two principal divisions of it, 
 and the really beautiful spots look small by comparison with the vast extent 
 spread around of another character." 
 
LODOICEA. 243 
 
 leaves, serves for filling mattresses and pillows ; the ribs of 
 the leaves and fibres of the petiole constitute baskets and 
 brooms, the young foliage affords an excellent material for 
 hats ; for this purpose, the unexpanded leaves only are taken, 
 dried in the sun, and cut into longitudinal strips, two or 
 three lines in breadth, which are then plaited ; and scarcely 
 any other covering for the head is worn by the natives of 
 the Seychelles. Of the nut are made vessels of different 
 forms and uses. "When preserved whole, and perforated iu 
 one or two places, the shell serves to carry water, and two of 
 them are suspended from opposite ends of a stick. Some 
 of these nuts hold six or eight pints. If divided in two 
 between the lobes, each portion serves, according to its size 
 and shape, for plates and dishes, or drinking-cups, these 
 being valuable from their great strength and durability ; so 
 that this kind of utensil in the Seychelles Islands bears 
 the name of Vaisselle cle I' Isle Praslin. And sucli is the 
 estimation in which these nuts are held by the Negroes and 
 poor people of other islands, that the sailors always try to 
 make them part of the cargo of their vessels. Amongst other 
 articles, shaving-dishes, black, beautifully poKshed, carved, 
 and set in silver, are made from them. 
 
 The Lodoicea attains a height of eighty or ninety feet. 
 
244 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 and is surmounted by a beautiful ctown of winged and 
 palmated leaves. The diameter of the trunk varies from 
 twelve to fifteen inches^ and the whole is so flexible that 
 the tops of those trees which stand in each other's vicinity 
 strike against and chafe each other in a strong breeze, 
 making an extraordinary noise. The leaves open like a fan ; 
 they are of large size, often attaining a length of twenty 
 feet, with a breadth of ten or twelve, and in some few cases 
 thirty feet in length, including the petiole, which is of 
 sufficient strength to support the weight of a man. The 
 flowers are dioecious, the male ones having from twenty-four 
 to thirty-six stamens. The fruit is a drupe, of an olive-green 
 colour, and generally double, sometimes triple, and even 
 quadruple, and frequently attains a length of eighteen inches, 
 with a circumference of three feet, and sometimes weighs 
 from forty to fifty pounds. It is in fact the largest fruit 
 which any tree produces ! The immature fruit, called by 
 the colonists " coco tendre,'' is easily cut with a knife, and 
 then affords a sweet and melting aliment, of an agreeable 
 taste. When the fruit is ripe, it drops on the ground, and 
 is no longer fit for food ; in a few months, if not buried in 
 the earth or exposed to the rays of the sun, the fallen nut 
 begins to germinate, and a new plant is formed. 
 
LOBOICEA. 245 
 
 A remarkable circumstance connected with this tree is the 
 length of time necessary to mature its fruity and the long 
 duration of its bloom. It bears only one spadix in each 
 year, and yet has often above ten in bloom at once ; it has 
 flowers and fruits of all ages at one time. The tree grows 
 on all kinds of soil, from the sandy shore to the arid moun- 
 tain-top, but the finest are found in deep gorges, on damp 
 platforms, covered with vegetable soil ; in such situations, 
 the great height and slender diameter of the trunk, and the 
 length of its enormous leaves, produce a fine efi"ect ; though, 
 near the sea-shore, its leaves, torn by the storms and hanging 
 in long strips, give it a desolate appearance. It is to be 
 regretted that the tree is not cultivated, and that a practice 
 has prevailed of cutting it down in order to get at the fruit 
 and tender leaves. In fact, it is feared that the species will 
 be, ere long, entirely lost. 
 
 After many unsuccessful attempts to introduce this Palm 
 into our conservatories, one has at last met with complete 
 success, and the plant is now to be seen in the Eoyal Gar- 
 dens at Kew. Germinating nuts were disposed of in 1854 
 at public sales in London for £10 apiece, but all of them 
 have since died. 
 
246 POPULAR HISTORY OJF PALMS. 
 
 Genus XXXYIII. MALOETIEA, Hrm. JFencIL 
 
 This genus, which was named in honour of M. de Ma- 
 lortie, the Director of the Eoyal Gardens at Hanover, was 
 brought into notice in 1853 by Hermann Wendland, who 
 received it from Guatemala, where it grows in the forests, 
 and performs, like ChamcEclorea and Geonomaj the office of 
 underwood. It is composed of two species, M. gracilis, 
 Hrm. Wendl. (CJianmdorea, ChamcErojjs, and Geonoma fe- 
 nestrata of gardens), and M. latisecta, Hrm. TTendl., only 
 the former of which is as yet to be met with in our conser- 
 vatories. The Malortieas are related to the genera Oreo^ 
 doxa, (Enocarpus, Manicaria, ReinJiardtiay Areca, etc., from 
 all of which they differ in various important technical cha- 
 racters. They are small, reed-like Palms, covered with short, 
 deciduous scales ; the leaves are terminal, pinnatisect, but 
 their segments are rather irregular, and very often more 
 or less grown together ; the flowers are monoecious, and 
 appear in simply-branched racemes, below the leaves ; the 
 berries are one-seeded, somewhat egg-shaped, and of a more 
 or less dark green colour. Nothing whatever is known of 
 their useful properties. 
 
MANICARIA. 247 
 
 Genus XXXIX. MANICARIA, Gcertner. 
 
 Manicaria sacciferaj Gsertii., the unique and handsome 
 Palm representing this genus, has a trunk from ten to 
 fifteen feet high, curved or crooked, and deeply ringed. The 
 leaves are very large, entire, rigid and furrowed, and have a 
 serrated margin ; they are often thirty feet long and four or 
 five wide, and split irregularly with age. The petioles are 
 slender, with a broadly-expanded, fibrous-edged sheath at the 
 base ; these sheaths are persistent, and often cover the stem 
 down to the ground. The spadices are numerous, growing 
 from among the leaves, and are simply branched and droop- 
 ing. The fruit is of an olive colour, somewhat three-lobed, 
 and with a rugose or papillose exterior covering. The spathe 
 is fusiform and entire, of a fibrous, cloth-like texture, and 
 of a brown colour. As the spadix expands it breaks open 
 irregularly; but in some cases a dead, unopened flower-bunch 
 is found enclosed in an entire, half-rotten spathe, as if the 
 vital powers of the plant had not been sufficient to tear 
 asunder the tough, fibrous sheath. The "Bussu," as the 
 Brazilians term this Palm, produces the largest entire leaves 
 of any known Palm, and for this reason, as well as on ac- 
 count of their firm and rigid texture, they form the very 
 
248 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 best and most durable thatch. The leaves are split down 
 the midrib, and the halves laid obliquely on the rafters, so 
 that the furrows formed by the veins lie in a nearly vertical 
 direction, and serve as so many little gutters to carry off the 
 water more rapidly. A well-made thatch of " Bussu'^ will 
 last ten or twelve years, and an Indian will often take a 
 week's voyage in order to get a canoe-load of the leaves to 
 cover his hut. The spathe too is much valued, furnishing 
 an excellent and durable cloth. Taken off entire it forms 
 bags — hence the specific name of this Palm — in which the 
 Indian keeps the red paint for his toilet or the silk-cotton 
 for his arrows, or he even stretches out the larger ones to 
 make himself a cap — cunningly woven by nature without 
 seam or join. When cut open longitudinally and pressed 
 flat, it is used to preserve his delicate feather ornaments and 
 gala-dresses, which are kept in a chest of plaited Palm -leaves 
 between layers of the smooth " Bussu^'' cloth. This species 
 inhabits the tidal swamps of the Lower Amazon, and is also 
 met with on the western coast of America. A Palm called 
 "Bussif is also found on the Eio Negro and Upper Ama- 
 zon, but it is of a smaller size, and is probably a distinct 
 species. 
 
MARTINEZIA. 249 
 
 Genus XL. MARTINEZIA, Ruiz et Pavon. 
 
 Martinezia is closely allied in its technical characters to 
 Guiliehna and Acrocomia, but differs considerably from 
 those genera in habit. The trunk is seldom more than 
 eighteen feet high, clad with spines, and bears at its extre- 
 mity a few leaves, with spiny petioles and midribs, and 
 cuneiform segments, erosed at the edge, resembling those of 
 Caryota and Wallichia of Tropical Asia. The flowers are 
 monoecious, and the fruit, a round, one-seeded drupe, is about 
 half an inch in diameter, and of a reddish-yeUow colour. 
 All Martinezias inhabit tropical parts of South America. 
 M. caiyotcefoUa, Humboldt et Kunth, occurs in the moun- 
 tains of Quindiu, on the banks of the Orinoco, the Cassi- 
 quiare, and the Atabapo ; it is cultivated in the gardens of 
 Ibague and Cartago, near Popayan, and has also been for 
 some years an inmate of our conservatories, where several 
 of its congeners, M. AiplianeSj Mart., (ilf. aculeata, Kl.), 
 and the doubtful M. ? globosa, Hort. {Acrocomia glohosa, 
 Hort.), and MJ truncata? Brongn., are likewise to be met 
 with. 
 
250 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Genus XLI. MAURITIA, Linnaeus, 
 
 Sir Walter Ealeigh states, in liis description of Guiana, 
 that on his second voyage, in 1595, when in the mouth of 
 the Orinoco, " he saw the fire of the Tivitites and Qua- 
 rawetes"*^ (as he terms the Guaranes Indians), "high up in 
 the trees,'^ and pubKshed a drawing of the fire in the Latin 
 edition of his work. Father Jose Gumilla, who twice visited 
 the Guaranes as a missionary, says indeed that that tribe 
 has its dwelHngs in the Palmares (or Palm-groves) of the 
 morasses; but while he speaks more definitely of pendent 
 habitations supported by high pillars, makes no mention of 
 platforms attached to still growing trees. Hillhouse and 
 Sir E. Schomburgk are of opinion that Bembo, through the 
 relations of others, and Ealeigh by his own observation^ 
 were deceived into this belief in consequence of the higli 
 tops of the Palm-trees being lighted up in such a manner 
 by the fires below them, that those sailing by thought the 
 habitations of the Guaranes were attached to the trees them- 
 selves. "We do not deny," says Schomburgk, "that in 
 order to escape the attacks of the mosquitos the Indian 
 sometimes suspends his hammock from the tops of trees, 
 
MAUEITIA. 251 
 
 but on such occasions no fires are made under the ham- 
 mock/' 
 
 Ealeigh was the first who brought to England the fruit 
 of the Palm-trees in question, which he very justly, and on 
 account of their scales, compared to fir-cones ; and Lin- 
 nseus was the first who described the trees systematically 
 under the name of Mauritia fiexuosa; but the materials at 
 his disposal were so imperfect that he erroneously consi- 
 dered them to be devoid of leaves. Since the time of Lin- 
 naeus several congeners of this Mauritia have been disco- 
 vered, and more ample materials have been collected, so 
 that the genus is at present well known. It belongs to the 
 Lejjidocari/(B, the same tribe as the Eattans do, and has a 
 tall trunk, which is either smooth or armed with spines. 
 The leaves are fan-shaped, and terminal. The flowers are 
 axillary, and monoecious ; the fruit is an oval-shaped or glo- 
 bular drupe, covered with rather small, imbricated scales. 
 At present we know about half-a-dozen species, all of which 
 are confined to the hottest parts of the South American 
 continent and the adjacent islands ; only one of them, 
 Mauritia flexuosa J Linn., has been introduced into our gar- 
 dens. 
 
 The latter is one of the most noble of aU the American 
 
252 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Palms. It grows to a height of eighty to a hundred feet, 
 and is found in the island of Trinidad, on the banks of the 
 Amazon, Eio TsTegro, and Orinoco, under the names of 
 Miriiij Morichey Murichi, and Ita. " It forms,'^ says Hum- 
 boldt, " in moist places, fine groups of a fresh and shining 
 verdure, reminding one of our Alders. . . . The trees 
 preserve the moisture of the ground by their shade, and 
 hence the Indians believe that the Mauritia fiexuosa draws 
 water around its roots by some mysterious attraction. In 
 conformity with an analogous theory, they advise that snakes 
 should not be killed, because the destruction of those ani- 
 mals is followed by the drying-up of the lagoons. Thus 
 the rude children of Nature confound cause and effect V^ 
 
 " Mauritia fiexuosa" according to Wallace, " is a social 
 Palm, covering large tracts of tide-flooded lands on the 
 Lower Amazon. In those places there is no underwood to 
 break the view among interminable ransres of hui^e columnar 
 trunks, rising unbroken by branch or leaf to the height 
 of eighty or one hundred feet, a vast natural temple which 
 does not yield in grandeur and sublimity to those of classical 
 antiquity. Of the age of these trees we have no knowledge, 
 but it is remarkable how uniform they appear in size, there 
 often being not a single young tree over a considerable 
 
MAURITIA. 253 
 
 extent of ground, particularly in places now flooded daily 
 by the tide. One would therefore imagine that the present 
 trees sprang up when the ground was more elevated than 
 at present, and that it has since gradually sunk (or the 
 waters risen) till the conditions have become unfavourable 
 to the growth of young plants, though not hurtful to those 
 which had already attained a certain age. Whether such 
 is the true explanation of the phenomenon can only be de- 
 cided by continued observation on the spot/' 
 
 "In the tidal districts of Para (Brazil),^' continues the 
 same traveller, "the massive trunks of these trees are often 
 used to form a raised pathway across the expanse of soft 
 mud, generally left at low water between ' terra firma' and 
 the water's edge. A. smooth and slippery cylinder is cer- 
 tainly not the best thing that could be devised for this 
 purpose, but as it is the most easily procured and the least 
 expensive, it is proportionally common ; and on paying a 
 visit to many a Brazilian country-house, should you arrive 
 at ebb-tide, you will have no other means of getting ashore 
 than that afforded by these trunks.'' 
 
 The medullary portion of the trunk contains a sago- 
 like flour, which bears the name of Ijmnuna. "I have 
 eaten it," says Humboldt, " at the town of St. Thomas, in 
 
254 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Guiana, and it was very agreeable to the taste, resembling 
 rather cassava bread than the sago of India. The Indians 
 assured me that the trunks of the Mauritian the tree 
 of life, so much vaunted by Father Gumilla, do not yield 
 meal in any abundance, unless the male tree is cut down 
 just before the flowers appear. Thus, too, the Maguey 
 {Agave Americana), cultivated in Mexico, furnishes a sac- 
 charine liquor, the wine [pulque) of the Mexicans, only at 
 the period when the plant shoots forth its long panicle. By 
 interrupting the blossoming, nature is obliged to carry else- 
 where the saccharine or amylaceous matter, which would 
 accumulate in the flowers of the Maguey and in the fruit of 
 the Mauritia" 
 
 An entire leaf of this tree is a load for a man. The un- 
 opened leaves form a thick, pointed column. "This is cut 
 down," says Wallace, " and by a little shaking the tender 
 segments fall apart; each one is then skilfully stripped of 
 its outer covering, a thin, ribbon-like pellicle, of a pale yel- 
 low colour", which shrivels up almost into a thread ; these 
 are then tied in bundles and dried, and are afterwards 
 twisted, by rolling on the breast or thigh, into string, or 
 with the fingers into thicker cords. The article most com- 
 monly made from it is the ' rede/ or netted hammock, the 
 
B.cite ]7 
 
 rrarf, del rt jti ^ Vincsnt Srooii Imp 
 
 L)reocloia oleroLcea , i^rr & Thrmax xnaiUfiora . A'/rc. 
 
MAURITIA. 255 
 
 almost universal bed of the native tribes of the Amazon. 
 This is formed by doubling the string over two rods or 
 poleSj about six or seven feet apart, till there are forty or 
 fifty parallel threads, which are then secured at intervals of 
 about a foot by cross strings, twisted and tied on to every 
 longitudinal one ; a strong cord is then passed through the 
 loop formed by all the strings brought together at each end, 
 by which the hammock is hung up a few feet from the 
 ground, and in this open net the naked Indian sleeps be- 
 side his fire as comfortably as we do in our beds of down. 
 Other tribes twist the strings together in a complicated 
 manner, so that the hammock is more elastic ; and the 
 Brazilians have introduced a variety of improvements, by 
 using a kind of knitting-needles, producing a closer web ; or 
 by a large wooden frame with rollers, in which they weave 
 in a rude manner with a woof and weft, as in a regular 
 loom; they also dye the string of many brilliant colours, 
 which they work in symmetrical patterns, making the ^redes' 
 or ' maqueiras,^ as tliey are called, among the gayest articles 
 of furniture to be seen in a Brazilian house on the Amazon/' 
 Spruce says, in a note accompanying a specimen of these 
 hammocks made at Tomo, on the Guainia of the Upper 
 Eio j^egro, and sent to the Museum of Economic Botany 
 
256 POPULAU HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 at Kew, that the body of the specimen was made from the 
 leaves of Astrocaryum vulgare, termed TiLCum in Brazil, 
 Cumari in Venezuela ; and the borders from those of the 
 Mauritia flexiwsa J the Muriti of Brazil, and the Morichi of 
 Venezuela. It is not unlikely that in every district different 
 materials are used. 
 
 The sap of the tree, when fermented, constitutes the 
 sweet inebriating Palm-wine of the Guaranes. The nar- 
 row-scaled fruit, which resembles reddish pine-cones, yields, 
 like the Banana, and almost all tropical fruits, different 
 articles of food, according to the periods at which it is ga- 
 thered, whether its saccharine properties are fully matured, 
 or whether it is still in a farinaceous condition. On the 
 Amazon a favourite Indian beverage is produced from it. 
 A quantity of it is soaked in water until it begins to fer- 
 ment, and the scales and pulpy matter soften, and can be 
 easily rubbed off. When strained through a sieve, the 
 liquor is ready for use, and has a slight acid taste and a fla- 
 vour peculiar to the fruit, and at first rather disagreeable 
 to the European palate. 
 
 " When the Tamanacs," says Humboldt, in his Travels, 
 " are asked how the human race survived this great deluge, 
 the ' age of water ' of the Mexicans, they say, ' a man and 
 
MAUUITIA. .257 
 
 t 
 
 a woman saved themselves on a high mountain, called Ta- 
 manacu, situated on the banks of the Asiveru ; and casting 
 behind them, over their heads, the fruits of the Mauritia 
 Palm, they saw the seeds contained in those fruits produce 
 men and women, who repeopled the earth/ Thus we find, 
 in all its simplicity, among nations now in a savage state, a 
 tradition which the Greeks embellished with all tlie charms 
 of imagination V 
 
 Similar to the last species is Mauritia vinifera. Mart., 
 also a native of Brazil. '' In a marshy place near the head 
 of the valley of Brejo Grande, we passed," says Gardner, 
 in his Travels, " a large group of a beautiful Palm, which I 
 had met with in only a few instances below Crato, but which 
 I afterwards saw in the greatest abundance in the swamps 
 of Piauhy and Goyaz ; it is called Buriti by the inhabit- 
 ants, and is the Mauritia vinifera of Martins. This Palm 
 is rot only the most beautiful, but one of the loftiest in 
 the country [it is stated to be from 100 to 150 feet high, 
 B. S.'] ; the leaves are fan-shaped, and form a large round 
 ball at the top of the stem, after the manner of the Carnaiiba 
 {Co^ernicia cerifera, Mart.). It produces a great number of 
 nuts, about the size of a small qq^^j covered with rhomboidal 
 scales, arranged in a spiral manner; between these scales 
 
 s 
 
258 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS. 
 
 and the albuminous substance of the nut, there exists an 
 oily pulp of a reddish colouij which the inhabitants of Crato 
 boil with sugar, and make into a sweetmeat; in Piauhy 
 they prepare from tliis pulp an emulsion, which when 
 sweetened with sugar forms a very palatable beverage, but 
 if much used is said to tinge the skin of a yellowish colour. 
 The juice of the trunk also forms a very agreeable drink, but 
 to obtain it the tree must be cut down, when several holes 
 about six inches square, three deep, and about six feet 
 apart, have to be cut in the trunk with a small axe, which 
 in a short time become filled with a reddish-coloured liquid, 
 having much the flavour of sweet wine. During my travels 
 in Piauhy, we used occasionally to cut down these Palms 
 in order to obtain the juice.^^ 
 
 According to a note by Spruce, an inferior wine is also 
 made from the fruit of the Maiiriiia viniferaj Mart. The 
 trunks, which rarely reach thirty feet in height, are employed 
 for the same purposes as those of most other species ; on 
 the Eio Negro they are much used in the construction of 
 houses ; strips cut from their circumference being fastened 
 crosswise to the upright poles, and the intervals then filled 
 with mud. 
 
MAXIMILIANA. 259 
 
 Genus XLII. MAXIMILIANA, Martins. 
 
 " Nature has lavished every beauty of form on the Jagua 
 Palm, which, intermingled with the Cucurito or Yadgihai 
 (eighty-five to one hundred and six feet high), adorns the 
 cataracts of Atures and Maypures, and is occasionally found 
 on the lonely banks of the Cassiquiare. Its smooth, slen- 
 der trunks, rising to between sixty-four and seventy-five 
 feet, appear above the dense mass of foliage of other kinds 
 of trees, from amidst which they spring like raised colon- 
 nades, their airy summits contrasting beautifully with the 
 thickly-leaved species of Ceiha, and with the forests of Lmi- 
 rinecs, Calophyllum, and different species of Aviyris, which 
 surround them. Its leaves, — few in number, scarcely so 
 many as seven or eight, — rise almost vertically into the air ; 
 their extremities are curled like plumes, the ultimate divisions 
 having only a thin, grass-like parenchyma, flutter lightly and 
 airily round the slowly-balancing midrib of the leaves." 
 
 Thus wrote Humboldt, in March, ISOl, when sailing 
 from the palmy shores of the mouth of the Eio Sinu, west 
 of Darien, to Cartagena de Indias. Strange to add, no- 
 thing was ever heard of the Palma Jagua, and botanists 
 were not able even to guess the genus to which it belonged. 
 
260 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 until fifty-three years afterwards, again in the month of 
 March^ Kichard Spruce, during his stay at San Carlos del 
 Eio Negro, in Venezuela, communicated in his sketch of 
 the vegetation of the Cassiquiare (Hook. Journ. of Bot. and 
 Kew Misc. vol. vii. p. 1 et seq.) another piece of informa- 
 tion, which established the systematic position of this Palm, 
 and added besides several important data concerning its 
 habit, to those already recorded by Humboldt. He says, 
 " I gathered all I could on the banks of the Orinoco, in- 
 cluding the Palma Jagua, the beauties of which are so 
 justly eulogized by Humboldt in his ^Aspects of Nature;' 
 and I brought away specimens, and notes on the living 
 plant. There are two splendid trees of it in the mouth of 
 the Cassiquiare. I had one of them cut down, and a leaf 
 and a spadix embarked in the piragoa, where I could exa- 
 mine them at my ease and also continue my voyage. The 
 leaf measured thirty-four feet in length, and possessed 426 
 segments. The spadix bore about a thousand fruits, and 
 was a load for two men. Several spadices are matured si- 
 multaneously. These statements will alone suffice to give 
 an idea of the magnificent aspect of the Palma Jagua, which 
 is one of the cliief ornaments of the Upper Cassiquiare and 
 Orinoco, and is an undescribed species of Maximiliana." 
 
MAXIMILIANA. 201 
 
 The genus MaximlUana has received through this redis- 
 covery an important addition, and now boasts of three 
 species, all of ^Yhich are natives of the forests of the north- 
 eastern parts of South America ; they have an • arboreous, 
 smooth trunk, terminal pinnatisect leaves of gigantic di- 
 mensions, and with linear, aggregated segments of a lively 
 green colour ; their spathes are large and woody ; their 
 flowers furnished with bracts, monoecious; and their fruit 
 ovate, one-seeded, and of a brownish colour. They are all 
 very noble trees ; for the two older species (J/, regia. Mart., 
 and M. insignis, Mart.), though they may not surpass in 
 beauty the one rediscovered by Spruce, are by no means 
 much inferior to it. TTe have them both in our gardens, 
 where, although they have only been introduced during the 
 last ten years, they already begin to display enough charms 
 to make even those who have not seen them in their native 
 country bear testimony to their excellence. 
 
 Ilaximiliana regia, Mart., which in Para and other parts 
 of New Brazil is called " Inaja," is described by Martins as 
 growing to the height of from fifteen to twenty feet ; but 
 from other authorities we learn that it sometimes attains to 
 the height of one hundred feet, and has leaves exceeding 
 fifty feet in length. The terminal leaf-bud furnishes a most 
 
# 
 
 262 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 delicious cabbage; the spathe forms a ready-made basket, 
 used by the Indians for carrying earth, clay, farinha, etc., 
 and by the hunters to cook meat, as, with water in it, it 
 stands the fire well. The fruit is eaten by the Indians, 
 and proves particularly attractive to monkeys and fruit-eating 
 birds ; it is also burned by the seringueiros (India-rubber 
 makers) for smoking and drying the successive layers of 
 the milk of the Seringue, which they apply to their clay 
 moulds. 
 
 Genus XLIII. METROXYLOX, Konig. 
 
 SagOj that palmaceous starch so largely imported into our 
 northern countries as a delicacy, and so extensively con- 
 sumed in southern regions as a common article of food [sago, 
 in the language of the Papua Indians, signifying bread), 
 is the produce of two species of Metroxyloiij M. Rumjjliii, 
 Mart., and M. lave, Mart., which, in common with their 
 congeners, present the following characteristics : — Their 
 trunk is large, and often tall, surmounted by a crown of 
 pinnatisect leaves, the sheath and petiole of which are often 
 ^rmed with straight spines ; their flowers are hermaphrodite, 
 somewhat red, and arranged in spikes ; they are besides ter- 
 
METROXYLON. 263 
 
 minal, and hence the trees flower only once during their 
 term of existence. Tlieir fruit is dry and scaly, resembling 
 pine-cone, and having a beautiful polish. All the species 
 inhabit the islands of the Indian Archipelago, where they 
 form extensive forests almost exclusively composed of their 
 own kind. 
 
 The best sago is obtained from Metroxylon Bunqihii, 
 Mart. [Sagus B^umphn, Willd.), and particularly from M. 
 l(2ve, Mart. [Sagus Icbvis, Eumph.), which both grow in 
 marshy spots. In order to procure it the trunk is split 
 into logs a few feet in length, tlieir soft interior extracted, 
 pounded, and thrown into water ; the water is then drained 
 off from the pulpy mass, when the starch comes away with 
 it, and upon being allowed to settle is afterwards prepared 
 and purified by successive washings. It is calculated that 
 a tree fifteen years of age will yield from six to eight hun- 
 dred pounds of this nutritious matter. The sago-meal, as 
 it is called, is the form in which this starch is procured, 
 although it is not commonly imported to Europe in this 
 state. The usual form in which it is to be met with is the 
 common article called Pearl Sago. 
 
 " Singapore," says Bennett, " is the principal, if not the 
 only place in the East Indies, where the refining or manu- 
 
264 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 facturing of the Pearl Sago is carried on; the process is 
 said to be the invention of the Chinese. According to 
 Crawford^ it was first practised in Malacca, and was only 
 introduced into Singapore in 1284. I availed myself of 
 the establishment of many of the manufactories of this ar- 
 ticle in and about the settlement to visit one, in which I 
 found a number of Chinese, all of whom were busily occu- 
 pied in different stages of the operation. The Sago, or Sagu, 
 is imported in large quantities into Singapore from Sumatra 
 in native boats, which bring it at all seasons of the year ; 
 and a few days since eighteen proas of different sizes arrived 
 in the creek laden with this article alone in its raw state. 
 The tree from which the raw material is produced is named 
 Rumhiya by the Malays, and has been too often described 
 to render an account necessary here."^ 
 
 " The raw Sago is imported in cone-shaped packages, each 
 probably weighing about twenty pounds ; t the mass is of 
 rather soft consistence, and of a dirty white colour, occa- 
 
 * There is a very coarse granulated sago, in large grains and of a dirty- 
 greyish colour, which is imported hy the native boats from Borneo, and is 
 used at this settlement during a scarcity of rice by the poorer class of people. 
 
 t In the list of imports published in the 'Singapore Chronicle' the raw 
 sago is usually designated as " sago tamping" (tamping signifying a package, 
 
METROXYLON. 265 
 
 sioned by being mingled with several impurities, and the 
 whole is enveloped in the leaves of the Pandanus tree. It 
 first undergoes several different washings in large wooden 
 tubs, being also strained, after washing, through cloth 
 strainers. When the raw material has undergone sufficient 
 ablutions, the masses which remain at the bottom of the 
 vessels are collected, broken into pieces, and placed upon 
 platforms in the sun to dry, being broken into still smaller 
 pieces as the drying proceeds. 
 
 "As soon as the pieces are sufficiently, although still not 
 always thoroughly, dry, they are pounded and sifted upon 
 long benches through sieves made of the midrib of the 
 leaves of the Cocoa-nut Palm, and placed at certain dis- 
 tances in a longitudinal direction, so as to cause the pul- 
 verized, or rather broken, masses of sago to pass through it 
 of only the required size. Having been passed through 
 the sieve, a certain quantity at a time is taken, placed in a 
 large cloth, tied to cross sticks, in the form of a bag, hang- 
 
 from the raw sago being always imported wrapped in the leaves of the Pan- 
 danus-iree). It is imported into Singapore by fleets of ten boats, or even 
 more, having to the amount of twenty thousand tampings or packages on 
 board : the packages vary in weight, some weighing more and some less to 
 the picul. 
 
266 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 in g by a cord from the roof of the building ; a Chinese is 
 then employed in shaking the bag backwards and forwards 
 by aid of one of the longest crossed sticks to which it is 
 attached^ occasionally shaking up the sago-powder ; this is 
 continued constantly for about the space of ten minutes, 
 when it is turned out granulated. It is then placed in 
 small wooden hand-tubs, looking beautifully and delicately 
 white, but still so soft as to break instantly with the slightest 
 pressure under the fingers, and is carried to several Chinese, 
 whose occupation is to make it undergo the drying process in 
 large iron pans over a fire. They are constantly stirring it 
 about when in the iron pan with a wooden instrument ; it 
 is then resifted at another bench and rebaked, after which 
 it is considered prepared. It is then of a fine pure white 
 colour, and, being spread thinly over a long and large bin, 
 in course of time it becomes both harder and of a darker 
 colour. 
 
 " At this establishment there appeared to be about fifteen 
 or sixteen Chinese employed, and they said six or seven 
 piculs could be manufactured in one day. The pearl or 
 refined sago is imported in large quantities to Europe, our 
 Indian Empire, the Cape, etc., in wooden boxes, each con- 
 taining rather more than a picul, ten boxes containing 
 
METROXYLON. 267 
 
 nearly fifteen piculs. It is sold at two and a half and three 
 dollars the piculj which includes the expense of boxes. A 
 piggery is attached to this sago establishment, the inhabit- 
 ants of which must fare very well upon the refuse of the 
 sago-washings. 
 
 " The time for collecting the sago is just before the tree 
 begins to show its large, spreading, terminal flower-spike, 
 which it generally does at seven or eight years old. While 
 young, the trunk is admirably protected by its long and 
 stout spines from the wild hogs, which would otherwise de- 
 stroy it. As it grows and the trunk hardens, the spines 
 drop off, and the central farina is enclosed in the outer 
 wood. When the flower and fruit are allowed to perfect 
 themselves, which is in two years from the first appearance 
 of inflorescence, the pith of the centre is found dried up, 
 the leaves have fallen, and the plant perishes. The Sago 
 Palm is seldom propagated from seed, which is generally 
 unproductive, but it may be raised in any quantity by off- 
 sets, which are freely produced." 
 
 In comparison with Metroxylon Uumpliu and M. IcBve, the 
 other species of this genus, including M. ? elatiim, Mart. 
 (Sagus elata, Eeinw.), figured in our Plate, may be said to 
 be of httle value, except 31. flare j Mart., which produces a 
 
268 POPULAE HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 useful fibre. M, Iceve, Mart., is already an inmate of our 
 gardens. All the other species are still desiderata. 
 
 Genus XLIY. MOEEIS'IA, Ruiz et Pavon. 
 
 The genus Morenia is confined to the mountains of Peru, 
 allied to Hi/ophorle and Kunthia, and composed of two 
 species [Morenia fragrans, Euiz et Pav., and M. Fcep^'igiaaUj 
 Mart.), both of which have a thin, unarmed, reed-like 
 trunk, terminal pinnatisect leaves, dioecious, white or yellow 
 flowers (in one species fragrant), and a one-seeded berry. 
 Nothing is known of tlieir useful properties, nor have they 
 as yet been introduced into our conservatories; the Morenia 
 corallocarjpaj Hort., being probably a species of some other 
 genus. 
 
 Genus XLY. NIPA, Thunherg. 
 
 Thousands and thousands of acres of the salt marshes of 
 the islands and coasts of the Indian Ocean may be seen 
 covered with Nijiafruticans, Thunb., a low, stemless plant, 
 
NiPA. 26.9 
 
 whicli partakes so much of the habit of a Palm that it is 
 generally considered as such by all those who do not trouble 
 themselves much about the technical characters which it 
 ought to possess, to be admitted a true member of the order 
 of Palms. The position thus assigned to it may be quite 
 near enough for all popular purposes; but science,, not 
 content wdth such a superficial decision, has been obliged to 
 look more closely into the relationship of this plant, without 
 however being able to find out more than that it is a staunch 
 ally of the Palms, and shows indisputable and strong con- 
 nections with the Pandanece, or Screw-pines. It is therefore 
 a plant of the greatest interest to the botanist, and also, it 
 may be added, to the geologist, as has been justly remarked 
 by Bowerbank, Lyell, and J. D. Hooker, arising from the 
 fact that nuts of a similar plant abound in the tertiary for- 
 mations at the mouth of the Thames, where they once floated 
 about in as great a profusion as those of the Nijm fniticans 
 do at the present day in the rivers of the Indian Ocean, 
 until they became buried in the silt and mud which now 
 forms the island of Sheppey. 
 
 Nipafruticans, Thunb. {N. littoralisy Blanco, Cocos Ni/jm, 
 Lour., see Plate lY.), is a stemless plant, with pinnatisect, 
 unarmed leaves, often more than twenty feet long. The 
 
270 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 flowers are monoecious, axillary, and enclosed in a spatlie 
 like those of tree-palms ; the fruit is a one-seeded drupe, 
 aggregated in heads as large as that of a man. The seeds 
 have often been sent to Europe, and have even germinated, 
 but they soon died, so that the plant is still a desideratum 
 in our gardens. 
 
 ^ijpafruiicans, termed Nipa and Sasa in the Philippine 
 Islands, possesses various useful properties. The leaves are 
 used for thatch ; when burnt, they yield a supply of salt ; 
 " pounded, they are apphed with advantage to the bites in- 
 flicted by centipedes, and a decoction of them produces an 
 excellent effect on wounds.''^ ^ From the spathe toddy is 
 extracted, convertible into syrup, sugar, vinegar, yeast, and 
 a strong spirit. " This spirit,^^ says M. Blanco, " preserves, 
 I am told, the sight, if the eyes are washed with it in the 
 mornings : it also imparts an agreeable odour to tobacco 
 and snuff. The inside of the fruit is edible, like that of 
 the Cocoa-nut." 
 
 Genus XLVI. (ENOCARPUS, Martlus. 
 It has been observed, first by Eobert Brown and after 
 
 * M- Blanco, Fl. de Filipinos, p. 662. 
 
J'^ar^ S8 
 
 J V. Bank del e*; lit 
 
 •'.TiCai' Brjifj ItLr 
 
 Fioexiix d.aerv'l:Lf€ra . . 
 
(EN0C4lEPUS. 271 
 
 wards by other botanists of eminence^ that all Palms be- 
 longing to that tribe of Palms called Cocoinece, — charac- 
 terized by the originally trilocular putmnen having its cells 
 when fertile perforated opposite the seat of the embryo, 
 and when abortive indicated hj foramina c^xca, — bear a 
 fruit affording oil. The genus (Enocarpus, one of that tribe, 
 so far from forming an exception, tends but to confirm the 
 soundness of the observation. Speaking of the oleiferous 
 Palms of the Amazon district, Spruce remarks : " After the 
 Caiaue [Elceis melanococca, Gsertn.), as to the quality of oil, 
 come the various species of (Enocarpus {(E. Bacaha, (E. Ba- 
 tavaj (E. disticha, etc.) . The oil of these is apparently of 
 finer quality than that of the' Caiaue : it is colourless and 
 sweet-tasted, and not only excellent for lamps but for 
 cooking. The shopkeepers of Para buy these oils of the 
 Indians, and mix them in equal proportions with olive-oil, 
 retaihng the whole as olive-oil, from which indeed even the 
 best judges can scarcely distinguish it. I can bear testi- 
 mony that for frying fish, oil of these different (Enocarpi 
 is equal either to olive-oil or butter. 
 
 " The various species of (Euocarpiis abound on the Amazon 
 and Orinoco, and on their tributaries. I have seen the 
 Patawa [(Enocarpus Batava, Mart.) in the greatest plenty 
 
272 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 througliout the Cassiquiare^ Alto-Orinoco, and Cunucu- 
 numa; near the Barra it is frequent, but less so than the 
 Bacaba. The forests opposite San Carlos, extending from the 
 Eio Negro to the Xie, are literally sown with Patawa. The 
 fruit is in season nearly all the year round. We are just 
 now (March 19, 1854) beginning to make use of it, and 
 we shall have it (in unlimited quantity if there were always 
 Indians to climb the trees) all through ISTovember. I am 
 passionately fond of Patawa-yukisse, and it is the only 
 thing I shall regret when 1 leave San Carlos. When I 
 have passed a long time without drinking it and recom- 
 mence, I always find it slightly aperient, but this effect 
 passes off in'two or three days. Yukisse, it should be 
 added, is the general name which the Indians of the Eio 
 Negro district give to all sorts of vegetable juices, and also 
 to the gravy of animal substances. It is obtained by 
 triturating the fruit of the Assai {Euter])e oleracea) and 
 other Palms in water, and adding a small quantity of 
 sugar and farinha. The Portuguese-speaking Brazihans 
 term these drinks vinho, thougli they are totally diflferent 
 from the Palm-wine prepared in other parts of Tropical 
 America and Asia. All the Palm-drinks are exceedingly 
 nutritious, and several slightly purgative, owing, no doubt. 
 
CENOCARPUS. 278 
 
 to the oil they contain. By allowing the "yukisse" to stand 
 a short time in a caya, the oil rises to the top, and an idea 
 is obtained of the quantity yielded by any particular palm- 
 fruit/^^ 
 
 The genus (Enocarpus is composed of about half-a-dozen 
 species^t all of which inhabit Tropical America, where they 
 prefer dry elevated lands, none being known to extend 
 more than 1600 feet above tlie level of the sea. They are 
 tall, majestic trees, with large smooth trunks, generally dis- 
 tinctly ringed ; the leaves are terminal, pinnatisect, with 
 linear segments; the spadices spring from beneath the 
 leaves, and are simply branched; the spathe is large, fusi- 
 form, and woody, and falls off as soon as the spadix escapes 
 from it ; the flowers are monoecious, and the fruit is nearly 
 globular, one-seeded, with an edible covering. 
 
 Besides the oil and "yukisse" which all the species af- 
 ford, they are also used for various other purposes. Their 
 leaves serve as thatch, and from the nerves of the decaved 
 
 * Spruce in Hook. Journ., vol. vi. p. 334. 
 
 t Herm. Wendland enumerates the following species as cultivated in our 
 gardens: — (E. aliissitmis, Klotzsch ; (E. Bacaha, Mart.; (E. Bolivianus, 
 Hort, ; (E. Caracasamis, Lodd. {Biplotheriiun caudescens, Hort. Kew.) j (E. 
 Chiragua, Hort. ; (E. Cubarro, Hort. ; and CE. utilis, KJotzsch. 
 
274 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 petioles the Indians make arrows for tlieir blow-pipes [gra- 
 vatanas), as has already been mentioned when describing 
 the latter (p. 221). 
 
 Genus XLYII. OXCOSPERMA, Blume. 
 
 In humid places and in thick forests of the Indian 
 Archipelago grow two Palms, with lofty, spiny trunks, ter- 
 minal pinnatisect leaves, from iQ,Y\ to sixteen feet long, 
 monoecious flowers, appearing below the commencement of 
 the foliage, and small, round, one-seeded berries, which are 
 the only species, as yet, representing the genus Oncosperma. 
 The one, 0. horrida, Seem. {Areca horridaj Griffith), the 
 Bhi/ass of the Malays, is confined to Malacca, where it is 
 commonly met with in densely wooded valleys and ravines 
 at Ching, and rarely on wooded hills at Lagdang Soobubi; 
 it is also found in forests at the base of Battoo Bakar: 
 nothing is known of its uses. The other, 0. jilameutosay 
 Bl. {Areca tigiUana, Jack., A. Niliingy Mart.), the Xibuug 
 or Xibong of the Malays, is an inmate of European gardens. 
 It is diffused over most of the islands of the Indian Archi- 
 pelago, and is very generally to be met with on the borders 
 of paddy (rice) swamps. Low, in his ' Borneo/ has given 
 
ONCOSPERMA. 2^5 
 
 an interesting account of its uses, which may find a place 
 here. '' Of all the excellent vegetables of Borneo," he says, 
 " the heart or cabbage of the Nibong is the most esteemed. 
 It consists of the whole unexpanded foliage, and is delicately 
 white, with a very sweet nutty flavour. It excels the cab- 
 bage of the Cocoa-nut Palm, but is inferior to the Pinang 
 (Areca Catechu, Linn.), wliich however, on account of the 
 value of the tree, is very seldom used, the extraction of this 
 edible part invariably causing the destruction of the entire 
 tree. The Nibongs are very plentiful near the mouths of 
 aU the rivers, and are prized also for house-building, etc. 
 Their trunks being quite round, and generally measuring 
 half a foot in diameter, little trouble is necessary, beyond 
 felling the trees and cutting them into lengths. The out- 
 side of the trunk is hard ; the inner portion being, as in all 
 monocotyledons, the most recently formed, is soft, and readily 
 decays, which causes the Nibong to be more used by the 
 poor than the rich inhabitants. Posts formed of this tree 
 last only three or four years, and then require either sup- 
 port or renewal. Eafters and flooring are made of the 
 hardest parts. The laths for floors are laid at distances of 
 two feet asunder, and bound together by rattans, — a plan 
 adopted in order that the dirt and rubbish of the house 
 
276 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 may fall through the interstices of the floor, and be washed 
 away by the next high tide." 
 
 Genus XLYIII. OREODOXA, TFiUdenow. 
 
 Just as a man, when about to be introduced to another 
 whose good opinion is not a matter of indifference to him, 
 would put on the most suitable dress and assume the most 
 proper look he can command, so the American Palms may 
 be said to have been anxious to appear to the best advan- 
 tage, when they were about to form the acquaintance of 
 tliose Europeans who had the boldness and energy to seek 
 a Western world. They placed on the very threshold of 
 their native country several representatives, which in ele- 
 gance and majesty of form are equalled by few, surpassed 
 by scarcely any of the whole order of Palms. Even ere the 
 anxious voyager has set his foot on shore, he has already 
 perceived their graceful foliage flattering in the breeze, and 
 waving, as it were, a hearty welcome to the newly-arriving 
 stranger. Since the time when Columbus first discovered 
 the West Indian Isles to the present day, these Palms have 
 been seen and admired by all who possess an eye for the 
 
OTIEODOXA. 277 
 
 beautiful ; and I shall never forget the delight experienced 
 when in September, 1845, the steamer which had brought 
 me from Europe approached at sunrise the island of Bar- 
 badoes, and allowed me to behold, for the first time, these 
 noble representatives of a truly tropical vegetation. 
 
 Oreodoxa regia and oleracea — for these are the Palms 
 here alluded to — are the most typical and best-known re- 
 presentatives of a genus of Cocoinecp,, distinguished by its 
 lofty unarmed trunk, terminal pinnatisect leaves, monoecious 
 yellowish flowers, and oval drupes. Oreodoxa regia, Humb. 
 and Kunth {(Enocarpus regius, Sprengl.), the Palma real de 
 la Havana, is one of the most common Palms in Cuba, 
 where it is, as Eduard Otto informs us, frequently used 
 for making avenues, a purpose to which it is admirably 
 adapted. It has also been introduced, according to Carl 
 Bolle (Bonplandia, vol. ii. p. 277), into Teneriffe. The great 
 peculiarity of this tree is, that there rises upon the rough 
 part of the trunk a grass-green, smooth, thinner shaft, hke 
 a column placed upon a column, and from this the leaf- 
 stalks spring. 
 
 Oreodoxa oleracea, Mart. [Areca oleracea, Linn., Eiderpe 
 Caribcea, Sprengl.), the Cabbage Palm of the West Indies, 
 is one of the loftiest of all Palms, its trunk attaining the 
 
278 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 height of a hundred and seventy feet. As the lower leaves 
 drop, the broad part of the footstalks forms a hollow trough 
 or cradle for iSTegro children, and when cut up makes 
 excellent splints for fractures; on the inside of every 
 footstalk are tender pellicles, which when dried make a 
 writing-paper; the heart is made into pickles, or when 
 boiled is served up at table ; the trunks serve as gutterings ; 
 the pith makes a sort of sago, and the nuts yield oil by 
 decoction. The wood is very hard, but so thin that it is 
 only fit for walking-sticks or gun ramrods. TVhen the 
 leaves are old they strip off, and the part that envelopes 
 this green trunk appears woody like deal. When the leaves 
 are stripped off green, the inside skin of each, if torn off 
 and dried, looks like vellum : this bears ink very well on 
 one side, on the other it seems greasy. From one trunk 
 may be procured twenty large sheets. 
 
 Oreocloxa ? Sancona, Humb. et Kunth [(Enocarpus San- 
 cona, Sprengl.), a native of the valley of the Cauca, in New 
 Granada, is also a very lofty tree, yielding excellent tim- 
 ber. Oreocloxa ? acuminata^ Willd., produces a '' cabbage/' 
 0. ? frigkla, Humb. et Kth., the Palmito of the moun- 
 tains of Quindiu, is remarkable on account of the high 
 elevation above the sea at which it grows, being one of 
 
PHCENIX. 279 
 
 the little group of alpine Palms quite unknown before the 
 time of Humboldt and Bonpland's travels in Equinoctial 
 America.^ 
 
 Genus XLIX. PHGENIX, Zitmaus. 
 
 That when Jesus Christ made his triumphal entry into 
 Jerusalem some of the population spread, as a mark of ho- 
 mage, their garments on the ground to allow the proces- 
 sion to pass over, is a statement common to all the four 
 Gospels, and St. Luke does not mention anything else as 
 closely connected with that circumstance ; but St. Matthew 
 and St. Mark add that others of the multitude ^^cut down 
 branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way;" 
 and St. John, still more circumstantial in this instance, 
 particularizes the branches as those of Palms. From the 
 mere mention of the latter particular, it is of course im- 
 possible to decide, scientifically, what species of Palm is 
 meant, but it has always been popularly supposed that the 
 
 * We cultivate in our gardens: — Oreodoxa acuminata, Willd. ; 0. ole- 
 racea, !Mart. {Areca oleracea, L., Euterpe Caribaa, Sprengl.) ; 0. regia, 
 Kth. J and 0. ? Sancona, Humb. et Kth. — Wendland's Index, p. 31. 
 
280 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Date-tree — Phcenix dactylifera of Linnseus — was the one 
 implied; as it is one of those growing in Palestine; and 
 moreover tradition in those countries professing the Ro- 
 man Catholic form of Christianity has sanctioned this sup- 
 position, by prescribing that on the anniversary of the im- 
 portant event alluded to — Palm Sunday — the leaves of the 
 Date-tree should be those used in rehgious ceremonies. 
 Hence we find that in places situated so far north that the 
 cultivation of the tree for the sake of its fruit is impossible, 
 such as the Isles d^Hyeres, San Eemo, Nice, Genoa, etc., 
 and more especially at Bordighiera, a small town on the 
 Sardinian coast, in the territory of Genoa, it is still planted 
 on account of its leaves, which constitute an important 
 article of commerce, and are sold in the spring for Palm 
 Sunday to the Christians, and in the autumn for Passover 
 to the Jews. Several vessels quit Bordighiera with this 
 singular freight, and some go so far as Holland, where a 
 great quantity of it is bought by the Jews. 
 
 In places where these leaves are not to be procured, those 
 of other plants are substituted. At Panama, for instance, I 
 have seen the Palma real {Attalea Cohunej Mart.) supply 
 its place. Sometimes however plants more humble have to 
 be used : — 
 
PHCENIX. 281 
 
 " In Rome, upou Palm Sunday, 
 
 They bear true Palms ; 
 Tlie Cardinals bow reverently. 
 
 And sing old psalms. 
 Elsewhere those psalms are sung 
 
 'Mid Olive branches ; 
 The Holly branch supplies their place 
 
 Among the avalanches ; 
 More northern climes must be content 
 
 With the sad Willow."— G'oM^. 
 
 H^fviiig done duty for a Palm, these plants, as is often 
 the case, have received, here and there, the popular title of 
 Palm : thus, for example, does Salix Caprea, Linn., go by 
 that name in ]N"orthern Germany, and in the counties bor- 
 dering the Porest of Arden and various other parts of Eng- 
 land, a fact not generally known to literary men."^ 
 
 * "' Look here," says Rosalind, in Shakspeare's ' As You Like It,' " what 
 I found on a Palm-tree !" " A Palm-tree in the Forest of Arden," remarks 
 Steevens, " is as much out of place as a lioness in the subsequent scene." 
 Collier tries to get rid of the difficulty by suggesting that Shakspeare may 
 have written " plane-tree." " Both the remark and the suggestion," observes 
 Miss Bakei', in her ' Glossary of Northamptonshire Words,' " might have 
 been spai-ed if those gentlemen had been aware that in the counties bor- 
 dering on the Forest of Arden, the name of an exotic tree is transfeiTed to an 
 indigenous one." The Salix Caprea, or Goat "Willow, is popularly known 
 as the "Palm" in Northamptonshire, no doubt fi-om having been used for 
 the decoration of churches on Palm Sunday ; its graceful yellow blossoms 
 
E82 POPULAR HISTORY OP PA.LM9. 
 
 The genus Phcenir^ of vrliich the Date-tree is at once the 
 most important and popular representative, is indigenous to 
 Africa and Asia, and only introduced into Europe. Its 
 trunk, marked with the scars of fallen leaves, is, in some 
 sj>ecies, so short that it hardly appears above the ground, 
 and attains in others from forty to eighty feet in height. 
 Its leaves are pinnatisect, bearing linear segments, the 
 lower ones of which gradually assume, in many instances, 
 the apj>eanince of spines ; and they are moreover more or 
 less conduplicate at the base, a peculiarity distinguishitig 
 Phccnis from all other genera of Palms. The flowers, grow- 
 ing on branched spadices, which appear in the axils of the 
 leaves, are of a dark-yellow or yellowish-white colour, and 
 dioecious. In order to make the trees bear plenty of fruit, 
 it is necessary to have recourse to artificial fertilization. 
 
 appearing at a time when few other tret-s have put forth a leaf, having woo 
 for it that distinction. Clare so calls it . — 
 
 " Ye leaning Palms, that seem to look 
 Pleased o'er yonr image in the brook." 
 
 That Sh.\kspcarc iuclndod the Willow in his forest scenery is certain, from 
 another j>ass^ge in the sAme play : — 
 
 " West of this place, down in the neighbour bottom, 
 The rank of osifrs by the murmuring stream, 
 Left on your right hand, brings you to the place." 
 
PHCENIX. 288 
 
 This is always done in countries where the successful culti- 
 vation of these trees for that purpose is an object. The late 
 Dr. Stocks, whilst at Muggur Peer, near Kurrache, tells us 
 in ' Hooker's Journal of Botany' that he witnessed the fer- 
 tilization of the Date : — " A man ascended the male tree, 
 and cut off the yet unopened spathe. He split it open, and 
 took out the male inflorescence, white and confert, like the 
 head of a cauliflower, yet with the pollen quite ripe and 
 falling in showers, if the inflorescence was shaken. On 
 being asked (intentionally) what was the meaning of this 
 strange and insane fit of cutting off the flowers which would 
 yield him Dates : — 
 
 " ' No, Sahib,' said he, ' these could never become Dates : 
 this is the male" [mii), 
 
 « '"What palaver is this? Male indeed ! where is your 
 female ?' 
 
 " ' Yonder, Sahib — this is the male.' 
 
 " After more of this he explained that one was male, one 
 the female {maclee), and this flour {ata) is (shaking the 
 inflorescence) the pollen. He then ascended the female tree 
 by the stumps of the old petioles, and with his axe cleared 
 away the old circle of leaves of 1847, and dressed up and 
 made tidy, as it were, for the bridal. He had previously 
 
284 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 cut the male into little bits, some of which he gently shook 
 over the female, and opening out her inflorescence a little, 
 inserted one or two bits of the male in it, and descended." 
 
 The fruit of Phceniv is a round or more or less oblong, 
 yellowish-brown drupe, which generally has one seed, but 
 in some instances the latter proves abortive, as is the case 
 in the American Guilielma sjjeciosa. 
 
 PhGeah: is composed of about a dozen species."^ I say 
 advisedly about a dozen, for it is impossible to speak more 
 decidedly respecting this point, as the limits of tlie various 
 species are at present very ill understood, and considerable 
 confusion prevails among the synonyms. As yet we do 
 not even know whether the East Indian Phcenix sylvestris, 
 Roxb., is a wild state of PJicenix daciyUfera, Linn., which 
 has from time immemorial been cultivated in Asia, Africa, 
 and Europe, or a distinct species ; but all the evidence col- 
 lected seems to incline in favour of the former opinion. 
 Nor have we, as yet, assigned any very definite limits to 
 PJuenix acaulis, Hamilton, which appears almost indistin- 
 
 * Herin. Wendland gives the following list of the species cultivated in Euro- 
 pean gardens: — Pheenix dadylifera, linn. ; P.farinifera, Roxb.; P. ferru- 
 ginea, Hort. ; P. ptjgmcea, Lodd. ; P. recJin^ta, Jacq. ; P. spitiosa, Thonning 
 {Fulchironia Senegaleims, Leseb.) ; and P. si/hestris, Eoib. 
 
Plate 19 
 
 
 
 V^>*^N%\; 
 
 N^ 
 
 ?hy tdephaus inacrocar":a , Ihiix ''3xmv. 
 
PHCENIX. 289 
 
 guisliable from P. Onseleyana, Griff., and P . peduncidata, 
 Griff. : other species share the same fate. It is necessary 
 to state in the outset these facts, as they must account in a 
 great measure for the rather loose terms in which the his- 
 tory of the various species has to be written. 
 
 The most southerly species are PJimiix spinosa, Thon- 
 ning, and P. reclinata, Jacq., both natives of the Cape of Good 
 Hope. The most northern species is P. dacf?/lifera, — the 
 Date-Palm, — wliicli is spread over the whole of Southern 
 Europe, Northern Africa, and South-eastern Asia, and fur- 
 nishes us with that well-known dessert- fruit. The Date- 
 Palm, justly termed one of the most important plants of the 
 Vegetable Kingdom, attains the age of upwards of one 
 hundred years. It is a noble tree, from forty to eighty 
 feet high, with an elegant glaucous foliage and edible fruits, 
 which vary in shape, size, colour, and flavour to such a 
 degree that in the oases of the Desert of Sahara alone the 
 late Dr. James liichardson counted no less than forty-six 
 varieties, all distinguished by different vernacular names.* 
 
 * Islj frieud Dr. Ed. Yogel has also paid considerable atteution to the 
 varieties of the Date, and has communicated to me, in October, 1853, from 
 Murzuk in Eezzan, a list of thirty-seven kinds, with full descriptions and 
 figures, which I have since published (Bonplandia, vol. ii. p. 74. t. 1). From 
 that communication it appears that the lai'gest Date of Fezzan (which is also 
 
286 POPULAR HISTORY OF PAOIS. 
 
 " In Egypt/' says Dr. Bowriiig in his report on the state 
 of agriculture and horticulture in that country, " the Date- 
 tree is a source of considerable revenue to the Government, 
 (1 piastre per tree being generally levied,) and ministers, 
 both by its fruit, trunk, foot-stalks, leaves, and fibres, to the 
 comforts of the natives, far more than any other product 
 of the soil. As a source of landed revenue it is highly 
 lucrative. One proprietor told me that he had planted five 
 thousand trees, which, after eight years, had produced yearly 
 fruit of the average value of from forty to eighty piastres 
 (eight to sixteen shilKngs sterling) per tree. Eevenue is 
 collected on about two millions of Date-trees.^' And he 
 further goes on to say : — " The Date Palm is easily propa- 
 gated by offshoots from the roots : of its leaves, brooms 
 and brushes, — of the fibre (li/) by which the petioles are 
 bound together, all sorts of cordage are made; the trunk 
 is employed for house-building, and many other purposes ; 
 and the fruit is of universal consumption." 
 
 the best) is 21^ Parisian lines long, and 10 in diameter, the smallest 74 by 5 ; 
 that the different Dates are of almost every colour, except pure white and 
 black, and that there are not, as is the case with our apples and pears, early 
 and late sorts, but that all arrive at matm'ity at about the same period (re- 
 stricted to within a fortnight), which falls in Fezzan about the latter part of 
 August. 
 
PHCENIX. 28f 
 
 The great resource of the inhabitants of Northern Africa 
 and of the oases of Sahara is the Date Palm. " All Eezzan 
 and half of Tripolitania," says Dr. Ed. Yogel (Bonplandia, 
 vol. ii. p. 2), '^satisfy most of their wants with the products 
 of it. The huts of the poorer classes are entirely made of 
 its leaves, and the more substantial habitations of the 
 wealthy chiefly consist of the same material; every door, 
 every post is made of its wood, and the ceilings of the rooms 
 are formed by its trunks. The footstalks furnish the 
 most common fuel, and they are often brought on men's 
 backs from a distance of six to eight miles, a mane's load 
 consisting of two bundles, fetching about twopence. The 
 fruit is the common food of both man and beast : camels, 
 horses, dogs, all eat dates. Even the stones are soaked in 
 water, and when they have thus become soft are given to 
 the cattle, for in many districts the cattle have no grass nor 
 any other herbage except a little safshah {Melilotus), which in 
 Murzuk is cultivated with almost as much care as the corn, 
 and fetches the high price of fourpence a bundle {i. e. about 
 a good handful). The camels of Murzuk are therefore often 
 sent about one hundred miles northwards for pasture. The 
 number of Date-Palms cultivated is enormous. When Abd- 
 el-Gelil besieged Suckna, in 1829, he cut down no fewer 
 
2S8 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 than 43,000 trees, to compel the town to surrender; never- 
 theless there are still at least 70,000 left. Their produce 
 is comparatively small, a hundred full-grown trees yielding 
 about forty hundredweight of dates, worth at Murzuk about 
 thirty shillings, but at Tripoli four times that sum. The 
 dates, after having been gathered, are dried in the sun, and 
 when quite hard buried in the sand. They may thus be pre- 
 served about two years, but generally after eighteen months 
 they are attacked by worms, and in the beginning of the 
 third year nothing remains of them save the stones. As an 
 every-day food dates are considered very heating, in conse- 
 quence of which they are not much used on journeys, as 
 causing great thirst. The most relishing and wholesome 
 way to eat them is, when made into a paste, mixed with 
 barley. When the heart of the leaves has been cut out 
 a sweet thickish fluid collects at that ca^dty, called laghiy 
 which is very refreshing and slightly purgative. A few 
 hours afterwards this fluid begins to ferment, becomes acid 
 and very intoxicating. Prom the ripe fruit a kind of treacle 
 is prepared, used especially for coating leather bags or 
 pipes to render them tight.'' 
 
 The Date Palm is one of the objects that strike the voy- 
 ager when approaching the lovely Isle of Madeira ; and I 
 
PHCENIX. 289 
 
 well remember the pleasure it gave me when, in August, 
 1845, I discerned its plumy head amongst the white walls 
 of runchal. "In the Cape de Yerde it is rather too 
 scarce,^^ says J. Schmidt,"^ " to constitute an important con- 
 tribution to the food of those islands. Originally it has 
 probably not been wild in the Cape de Yerde, but it appears 
 to have been formerly cultivated to a greater extent than 
 at present/' As Schmidt has not given his reasons for be- 
 lieving why he doubts its being an endemic species, he has 
 of course left the question whether it was originally wild, 
 or introduced, where it stood. It has also been called in 
 question whether the Date-tree was indigenous to the Ca- 
 nary Islands ; henceforward that cannot be repeated, as Dr. 
 Carl Bolle has, both from historical records and from his 
 own observation, set that question finally at rest. In answer 
 to my inquiries respecting it, he sent an elaborate treatise, 
 which I published entire in the second volume of the ^Bon- 
 plandia,' and much regret that I cannot reproduce it at this 
 place in full length, or render the abstract here given in 
 anything like the highly poetical and grapliic language for 
 which the original is so justly admired. 
 
 * ' Beitrage zur Flora der Cap Yerdischen Inseln,' etc. Von Dr. Johann 
 Anton Schmidt. (Heidelberg, 852.) 
 
 U 
 
290 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 " That the Date-palm has always existed in the Canary 
 Islands," says Dr. Bolle, " might be proved from the first 
 positive documents we possess of the history of the Fortu- 
 nates, if the mode in which it occurs at present, and the lo- 
 gical deductions derived from that fact, did not render such 
 a proof unnecessary. Well known is the expedition de- 
 spatched by King Juba, who, as a vassal of the Emperor 
 Augustus, reigned over Mauritania, and who by his love for 
 science, particularly cosmography and geography, attained 
 a degree of immortality which the simple possession of a 
 crown would never have imparted to him. Juba had sent 
 learned men to visit the isles, originally discovered by Phoe- 
 nicians and Carthaginians, but lost again in sub-mythical 
 obscurity, thus originating the first scientific expedition 
 which the annals of mankind record. How new the scheme 
 must have been, is evident from the highly obscure and 
 confused report given by the explorers, — a report, of which 
 Pliny has unfortunately only preserved a fragment. Two 
 dogs of immense size, from Canaria, were brought to the 
 king as tro]:)hies. The Mauritanian reporters seem to have 
 found the islands uninhabited, but they say most positively 
 and clearly, ' Abundant palmetis caryotas ferentibus' — they 
 abound in groves of Palms, bearing dates." 
 
PHCENIX. 291 
 
 The information Juba acquired does not seem to have 
 led to a permanent occupation of the islands. They were 
 doomed once more to oblivion, and remained to the Ro- 
 mans and Arabs more a myth than a reality. The feudal 
 times arrived, and with them, foremost in Italy, a fervent 
 desire to explore the sea. The writings of the ancients, 
 rescued from the dust of conventual libraries, awoke in Flo- 
 rentines and Genoese doubts whether the ocean presented 
 in reality insurmountable obstacles to a more extended na- 
 vigation ; and there appeared another great name directly 
 connected with the Canaries. Boccaccio wrote the narrative 
 of a voyage of a company of bold Florentines, who, in the 
 service of Alfonso IV. of Portugal, rediscovered the Canaries 
 a second time, and, navigating from isle to isle, explored 
 them thoroughly. Here we find more clearness, and many 
 more details; and again we hear something about the Palms. 
 
 Their leaves, we are informed, were substituted by the 
 islanders for garments, as is the case at the present day in 
 the Bissagos. In the remarkably minute description of the 
 three youths, who were taken to Portugal, he says : '*' Crines 
 habent longos et flavos, usque ad umbilicura fere, et cum 
 his teguntur ; decora facie, nudi incedunt ; habent tamen 
 femoralia, cingunt autem lumbos corda, ex qua, fila pendent 
 
292 POPULAR HTSTOIIY OF PALMS. 
 
 palmse seu juncorum in multitudine grandi, iis quidem tegunt 
 pubem omnem/^ etc. This is tlie first mention of the ta- 
 marco, that principal part of tlie old Canarian dress, which, 
 with the cloak of well-prepared goat-skins, was worn around 
 the shoulders. The derivation of its name from the Semitic 
 word 'Tamar' (tlie Palm-tree) cannot be gainsaid, and, 
 curious to add, the Islenos still term the smaller fruits of 
 the half-wild Date-trees 'Tamaras,^ in contradistinction to 
 the *" Datiles,^ which, improved by culture, are larger and of 
 superior quahty. 
 
 The members of the Canarian flora captivate in most in- 
 stances, by their originality and beauty of form and colour, 
 more the eye than the palate ; Madronos {Arbutus Canari- 
 ensis)^ Yicacaros [Canarina Camjianula), Mocanes [Visnea 
 Mocanera), a few strawberries, blackberries, and pine-nuts, 
 being the only kinds of fruit which, unattended, produced 
 a ready harvest. But none of them equalled in flavour the 
 Date ; for the fig-tree was only introduced in the thirteenth 
 century, by navigators from Majorca, and the abundant 
 supplies which it soon began to yield embellished the last 
 days of Canarian independence ; and the time was still dis- 
 tant when the grape and the golden ^ange were to meet, 
 to impress upon the originally sombre physiognomy of the 
 
PHOENIX. 293 
 
 country the character of an almost paradise-like luxuriance, 
 — when a sacred grove was to be planted in honour of 
 Pomona, in which all the products of the tropical region 
 were to compete in perfection with those of the temperate 
 zone. It is evident that under such circumstances the 
 Date must have appeared to those unsophisticated natives 
 as the most perfect production of Xature. But nowhere 
 could that be the case in a higher degree than in the islands 
 of Lanzarote and Fuertaventura, where, on account of the 
 predominating character of the desert, the number of other 
 trees must have been smaller, and that of the Date-palms 
 larger. 
 
 But not only food and dress did the Guauches derive 
 from the Date-tree ; they also, as Yiera assures us, knew how 
 to prepare from it a beverage, which replaced the wine, and 
 yielded at the same time vinegar, honey, and sugar. " In 
 Gomera,^^ says the author of the ^jN^oticias,^ "there is a small 
 cask of the juice used to be extracted from each Palm." 
 The introduction of the vine and the sugar-cane no doubt 
 caused the downfall of that branch of industry at an early 
 period : at least no vestige of it remains at the present day. 
 But a tree which conferred so many benefits, satisfied so 
 many wants, of the elegant and noble forms of which no 
 
294 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 eye could remain insensible, must necessarily have stood in 
 high estimation ; and when the kings of the Guauches placed 
 the bay-leaf as a symbol of their sovereignty on their brows, 
 it is not improbable that the Date-Palm was also planted 
 at the entrance of the cavern serving as their habitations, 
 and that the Tagoror, or parliament, was held in its shade. 
 
 "With the period of the Norman Conquest, when the 
 Bethencourts began to establish themselves more firmly in 
 the smaller islands, a clear ray of historical light falls upon 
 the scene of our investigation. Directly on the first land- 
 ing in Fuertaventura, then called Herbania, the gallant Ga- 
 difer de la Salle, the brother in arms of J. de Bethencourt, 
 penetrated without opposition as far as the ' Euissel de 
 Palmes.'' That part of the book of the chaplains of the 
 conquerors is descriptive of the condition of the country 
 at that time, detailing in a graphic manner the great abun- 
 dance of Palms then existing. 
 
 "Another time, when colonists from Normandy arrived in 
 Lanzarote, their joy on beholding the beauty of their new 
 country, and the wild, still unchanged dress of the Cana- 
 rians, 'qui ne sont vestus que par derriere,^ was only equalled 
 by their predilection for the exotic, unknown fruits : ' lis 
 mangeaient de ces dattes et des fruicts du pays, qui leur 
 
PHCENIX. 29S 
 
 sembloient fort bons, et rien ne leur faisoit anciin mal/ 
 Even at that time mention is made of Dates and Dragons' 
 blood, as articles of export from Lanzarote and Fuerta- 
 ventura. 
 
 " Thus far the chronicle. Let us now turn to the present. 
 In casting our looks from books and historical hypotheses 
 upon concrete nature, we are obliged to own that in com- 
 parison w^ith former times, the number of Palms has de- 
 creased, particularly in Teneriffe. The banks of the brooks 
 towards the sea, the valleys of the larger barrancos, have 
 been claimed by cultivation. Agaves and Cactuses now 
 flourish as foreign intruders, where the African Flora once 
 reigned in native power. Perhaps there is no longer in the 
 whole island of Teneriffe any truly wild specimen of Thcenix 
 dactylifera; but numerous names of places, which must have 
 been given during an early period of the time of the Con- 
 quest, prove that formerly the tree must have been rather 
 frequent. Two large valleys, one in the north, the other in 
 the west, are called to this hour, ^ Yalle de las Palmas' and 
 El Palmar \ in the former, which terminates opposite the 
 rocks of Anaga, the traveller searches in vain for a justifica- 
 tion of the appellation — it has become quite historical. 
 " But although the wild Date-Palms may have disap- 
 
296 POPULAR HISTOUY OF PALMS. 
 
 peared, and the cultivated cues appear nowhere in dense 
 groves, yet the landscape is by no means entirely deprived 
 of them. The gardens and courtyards of Santa Cruz in 
 Teneriffe exhibit many a lofty and beautiful specimen, fur- 
 nishing a most suitable groundwork for the picture pre- 
 sented by the Moorish architecture and the flat roofs of the 
 white buildings of that town. Among the valleys of the 
 south-east coast may be mentioned the Ygueste de San 
 Andre, shaded by groves of Bananas, as distinguished by the 
 picturesque grouping of its beautiful, though not numerous, 
 Date-palms. More abundant do these trees become, after 
 passing over the elevated plain of Laguna, — where only a 
 few stunted specimens are to be met with, — and descending 
 by way of the Eodeos the declivities of the milder northern 
 coast. There, about Yittoria, Matanza, and Santa Ursula, 
 they afford, notwithstanding their being rather isolated, the 
 most lovely aspect. They bend their fohage over many a 
 white wall, unfold their crowns over many a rural cottage : 
 there they stand on the boundaries of vineyards, orange- 
 gardens^ and fields, watching, as it were, like guardians over 
 the different products, the more pleasing to the eye as they 
 are harmoniously blended with the Canarian and South Eu- 
 ropean forms in one great picture. It was near Santa Ursula 
 
PHCENIX. 297 
 
 where Cbamisso, tired and despairing of reaching, in the 
 short time allotted to him, Orotava, sat down under a Date- 
 tree, gravely to fulfil a promise he gave to his humorous 
 friends at Berlin, to smoke a meerschaum-pipe under Palms ; 
 and it was there also that the poet cut several ribs of 
 Palm-leaves to present as walking-sticks to the same friends, 
 previously to his embarking on board to continue his voyage 
 round the world. 
 
 " Further on, the renowned vale of Orotava preserves the 
 same character. Palms still continuing to contribute towards 
 the beauty of the landscape. They adorn La Paz, the 
 charming villa of Don Thomas Cologan ; a majestic tree 
 overshades the courtyard of a former nunnery at Puerto 
 Orotava, shown with pride to the stranger as one of the 
 observatories of the great Don Alejandro, that being the 
 name by which our immortal Humboldt lives and is vene- 
 rated in the hearts of all Spanish Creoles. The extreme 
 northern valleys of Teneriffe, where humidity predominates, 
 and the Laurel region inclines to the coast, possess only a 
 few and isolated Palms. At Bajamar we remember a rare 
 sight : the trunk of a Date-tree, covered with a fine Fern 
 {Bavallia Ca7iariemis), — which generally is onli/ to be found 
 in the region of Laurels and Pines, — ^just as if it had been 
 
298 POPULAR HISTORT OF PALMS. 
 
 a Yinatico [Laurus Indica) of the higher forests. The Palms 
 continue to prevail westwards of Orotava, towards Punta de 
 Teno. A splendid avenue of Date-trees of the old stock 
 may be seen in the beautiful gardens of La Eambla, near 
 Eealejo de abajo. 
 
 " Generally speaking the Date-palm is cultivated in Tene- 
 riffe less on account of its fruity which only arrives at perfec- 
 tion when the roots are properly subjected to irrigation, than 
 as an ornamental and at the same time useful tree, the leaves 
 and petioles of which must suffer themselves to be employed 
 to several domestic purposes, and amongst them to the not 
 very poetical office of brooms — the reason why so many trees 
 with injured crowns are to be met with; mats used in pack- 
 ing up merchandise, for covering up camels^ loads, and in- 
 stead of carpets, are also wrought of the leaves. The flow- 
 ering season falls in Teneriffe in Pebruary, the fruiting in the 
 autumn. As African sub-tropical species common to the 
 whole coast region, the Date-palm may be considered as at- 
 taining to the height of the lower boundaries of Webb and 
 Berthelof s second " chmate " of the Canary Islands, which 
 comprises the region of evergreen forests, but not ascending 
 much higher than that ; 2500 feet may be looked upon as 
 the extreme of its vertical distribution. 
 
PHGENIX. 299 
 
 "The island of Palma did not derive its name directly, as 
 might be supposed, from tlie Palms occurring on it, but, as 
 proved by historical records, from a translation of the name 
 of the capital of Majorca, for from the largest of the Ba- 
 learic Isles came the pioneers of its Conquista. But any one 
 anchoring in tlie roadstead of Ciudad, as we did in August, 
 1852, and seeing the high terraces of rocks covered with 
 hundreds of gigantic Date-palms, or on climbing up the 
 Barranco de los Dolores, beholding on all sides trees heavily 
 laden with orange-red fruits — a picture of genuine abund- 
 ance — will perceive that this island, called already by Cada- 
 mosto the most delightful of all islands he visited, enjoys 
 with full justice the title of the ' Isle of Palms/ And if 
 he who further on passes the Cumbre, and penetrates by 
 way of the valley of Las Augustias into the Caldera, — that 
 wonderful gigantic glen, which, surrounded by perpendi- 
 cular walls of rock four thousand feet high, enjoys, like a 
 conservatory, an always uniform temperature, allowing plants 
 from all heights to flourish in company of each other, — the 
 Canarian Cedar {Jmiiperus Cedriis, AYebb et Berth.), from 
 the most elevated mountain ridge, and Kleinia nerufolia, 
 Ait., of the hot coast region, — he may still witness the strange 
 phenomenon of seeing Date-palms and Pine-trees growing 
 
300 POPULAR HISTORY OP PALMS. 
 
 harmoniously together. Leopold von Buch doubted with- 
 out reason the existence of this vegetative harmony, which 
 had already been mentioned by Yiera. Berthelot, that 
 eminent naturalist, has however attested orally and in wri- 
 ting, as well as by means of pictorial illustration, the cor- 
 rectness of the older assertions. But the hand of man, even 
 in this mysterious, almost inaccessible workshop of Nature, 
 the way to which leads through so many dangers, along 
 yawning precipices, has not spared the ' Fauns of the wil- 
 derness,' banished hither. It has allowed the j&re to ac- 
 complish what the axe was not able to do. Only on one in- 
 accessible rock near the Barranco del Almendrero Amargo, 
 stood, in September, 1852, surrounded by Pine-trees, one 
 solitary wild Palm. Heine's conception of the longing of 
 the two trees for each other, so beautifully expressed in one 
 of his sweet elegies, had here found its solution : 
 
 " Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam 
 Im Nordcn auf kahler Hoh' ; 
 Hin schlafert ; mit weisser Decke 
 Umliulleii ihn Eis uud Schnee. 
 Er traumt von einer Palme, 
 Die fern im Morgenland 
 Einsam und schweigend trauert 
 Auf brennender Felsenwaud." 
 
Fhte ZO 
 
 JC ft-ajilt ili »tuth 
 
 Wnceiw Cjiooki Imp 
 
 Thi 
 
 i^entcc 
 
 Loiii 
 
PHOENIX. 301 
 
 We know nothing of the Palms of Ferro. Bourgeau, 
 the only botanist who has visited that island, but who has 
 not written anything, might be able to report on them. 
 But Gomera, that w'oody, western isle, enjoys a high repu- 
 tation as a Palmy country, where the culture of the Date- 
 tree is a regular branch of industry, to which much attention 
 is paid. The dates of Gomera are considered quite equal 
 to those of Mogador, and they are exported to the whole 
 neighbouring archipelago, showing that there must exist a 
 great number of trees producing them. There is one va- 
 riety without a stone, and even perfectly wild trees are said 
 to occur among the rocks [riscos). Not less distinguished 
 by its Palms, — therefore far surpassing Teneriffe in the 
 Oriental character of its scenery, — is the great, fertile island 
 of Gran Canaria, where the metropolis of the whole archi- 
 pelago, Ciudad de las Palmas, does not only preserve the 
 mere name of the thick Palm-groves of the beach of Gui- 
 niguada, on which the conquerors pitched their first camp 
 (Eeal de Palmas) , but also those features that gave rise to it. 
 Roses and jessamines half conceal the white walls, amongst 
 which the airy streets of the city are situated, and nume- 
 rous noble Palms display their feathery tops, calling to mind 
 some of the scenes in Sheherazade^s fairy tales. Several 
 
802 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 other names of places besides the last-mentioned, are derived 
 from the tree here treated on ; thus, for instance, the curi- 
 ous name of ' Tamaraceite,' which seems to imply a spot on 
 which Palms and Olive-trees grow together. 
 
 "Eastward of Gran Canaria, separated by the channel of 
 Bocayna, are the Purpurariee of the ancients, -the islands of 
 Lanzarote and Puertaventura, where, on account of their 
 low elevation and their proximity to the Desert of Sahara, 
 the Libyan type of vegetation prevails, and where the Date- 
 palm — though only in a cultivated state in the well-watered 
 valleys — no longer surrounded by a luxuriant mass of en- 
 demic Canarian species, appears as the predominating tree, 
 and gives the chief character to the landscape. Especially 
 in Puertaventura there is scarcely one of those square, flat- 
 roofed houses, near which, in company with Pig-trees and 
 Tamarisks {Tamarix Canariensis, Willd.), these Palms are 
 not to be found, no brook in the moist sand of which they 
 are not seen, no fountain in the desert near which they do 
 not form an oasis. The same remark apphes to Haria, in 
 Lanzarote, Tuinije, La Antigua, La Hampudiente, and many 
 other places in Puertaventiira — the aspect of which reminds 
 one vividly of the Duars of the Arabs — and particularly to 
 the valley of Eio Palmas, in the last-named island, which 
 
PHCENIX. 303 
 
 we found, in 1852, abounding as much in Palms as it 
 must have been in the fifteenth century, when the Bethen- 
 courts gave it the Trench name of ' Euissel de Palmes/ 
 
 "It was in April, 1852, when I left the hospitable cha- 
 teau of La Oliva for Yilla Bentancuria, the former capital 
 of Puertaventura. I was borne by a camel of fine race, 
 the best-suited animal for such an excursion. My two 
 faithful guides, Santiago Bareto and Anastasio Aguilar (the 
 latter, as a soldier in the Canarian militia, was dressed in 
 a most becoming green uniform), were riding on donkeys 
 near my side, and occasionally fastening their beasts to the 
 tail of my camel, made the ''ship of the desert' tow them 
 along like boats. Ere long we had the plain of Oliva be- 
 hind us, where the wheat was still standing on the field, 
 and entered the Desert at the foot of the Montana Que- 
 mada, an extinct volcano. A deep blue and cloudless 
 sky spread like a high dome over the vast brown plain, 
 which on the left was confined by the central mountain- 
 chain, on the right separated from the sea by a low ridge 
 of hills, whilst far away towards the south, in which direc- 
 tion our way led, it was guarded by a long stretching chain 
 of mountains. The soil, however redundant with verdure 
 during the rainy season, was now quite bare and cracked bv 
 
304 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 the powerful rays of the sun, and showed, except a few 
 grey and fleshy-leaved Chenopodiaceous shrubs, no sign of 
 vegetation ; only where the periodical streams of the winter 
 season had formed a bed, a few tamarisk-bushes were ob- 
 servable. Upon the loose stones scattered about, the heated 
 air was keeping up a trembling motion. The sudden flight 
 of a frightened Houbara-ustard, or the melancholy cry of 
 a Ganga-hen, occasionally interrupted the stillness. At the 
 distance groups of camels, without herdsmen, were observ- 
 able. The scenery was so entirely African in its character, 
 that one would not have been surprised to behold on the 
 tops of some of the hills the dark tents of the Bedouins, or 
 to see rising the dust of a flock of ostriches. It was a ride 
 through the Desert, full of all the poetry, surrounded by all 
 the melancholy magic, but without any of the horrors, of 
 the Sahara. Prom the high seat on the back of the camel 
 the whole country could be viewed, and without the fear 
 which about twenty leagues eastwards, on the continent of 
 Africa, would have made itself felt. There were no waves 
 of loose sand, drifted along by the Simoon, — no surprise of 
 Arabian robbers to be apprehended. A good supply of 
 fresh spring water, and a large flask filled with Malvasia 
 from Gran Canaria, and carried by the camel, not even ad- 
 
PHCENIX. 305 
 
 mitted of a thought of thirst, which oji similar occasions 
 had often troubled us. The mind, quite lost in reflections 
 on the mysterious life of nature, became not tired of ad- 
 miring the poetry of the surrounding objects. My guides 
 now carrying on a merry conversation, then reciting some 
 ballad, or singing the melodious verses of some popular air_, 
 rode or walked near my side. We were almost sorry when 
 we arrived at the end of the plain, in a little grove of palm- 
 treesj situated on the foot of a ridge of mountains, the 
 winding paths of which we passed to gain on the opposite 
 side a narrow but fertile valley, well supplied with water, 
 in which lies the old IN^orman town of Betancuria, with its 
 historically remarkable church and convent of St. Francis, 
 considered as the oldest of the whole Canaries. The Alcalde 
 of the place received us hospitably, and furnished us next 
 morning with guides to Eio Palmas. The road leads along 
 the same little river on which Betancuria is situated ; but 
 it is only after a considerably long march, and near the 
 church of Nuestra Seiiora de la Pena, a celebrated place of 
 pilgrimage, that the real A^ alley of Palms is reached. There 
 the landscape changes its aspect suddenly : instead of wild 
 Olives, Pistacias {Fistacia Atlantlca, Desf.) and European 
 fruit-trees, the verdure of which one was hitherto able to 
 
 X 
 
306 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 enjoy, you are at once in the midst of most beautiful groves 
 of Palms, still grouped in the same manner as the chap- 
 lains of Bethencourt, Bontier and Leverrier, described them, 
 with the only difference that now the farms of peaceful, in- 
 telligent country-people are seen in their shade, orchards 
 and cornfields fill up the intermediate spaces, and the num- 
 ber of Palms, in comparison with formerly, has rather de- 
 creased than increased. There are still, as in bygone times, 
 luxuriant tree-like tamarisks on the banks of the rivers and 
 rivulets. Rio Palmas may indeed be termed, on account of 
 its fertility, its abundance of Palms, and on account of its 
 forming a natural antithesis to the arid, sterile mountains 
 surrounding it, the most beautiful oasis of Fuertaventura, 
 and it is certainly the largest. Leaving Eio Palmas, gra- 
 nitic rocks are piled one upon the other, the rivulet having 
 dug itself a narrow but deep bed in the stony masses. You 
 have entered the Malpaso, a slippery path, where the water 
 oozing out in every direction renders walking extremely dif- 
 ficult and dangerous, often rendering it necessary to creep 
 on your hands and feet, or to rest on the thick stick which 
 the Isleiios term their ' lance.' You reach a grotto, where 
 is a chapel, formerly the shrine of the image of Nuestra Se. 
 nora de la Peiia. A still steeper path leads into the lower 
 
PHCENIX. 307 
 
 valley, and there again you find yourself in as beautiful a 
 grove of Palms as "can well be conceived. How comfortably 
 the foot steps on the green turf ! how refreshing the breezes 
 that play with the gigantic leaves ! how agreeable the joyous 
 sound of the birds {Fringilla Hisjmniolensis) , which have 
 built their nests on the footstalks of the trees ! 
 
 " Having accomplished the crossing of the Malpaso, we 
 squatted down to a rustic meal and partook freely of the 
 wine, which, cooled in a neighbouring fountain, was found 
 to be most refreshing. The conversation soon became ani- 
 mated. I had to tell of my native country, and to listen 
 in turn to the miraculous discovery of the image of the 
 Virgin of La Peiia. At last Anastasio, who had hitherto 
 been silent, pushing back his curly hair from his fore- 
 head, contributed his share to the conversation. ^ Do 
 you see, Caballero, below in the valley, another group of 
 Palms ?' he said, addressing me. ' Among them is a tree 
 bearing dates without a stone, and they are very sweet and 
 pleasant eating. What a pity that it is not autumn, or 
 else I should go to fetch you some for your dessert. But 
 do you know how these dates originated ? No, you say ? 
 Well then I will tell you. It is an old story, and many a 
 fleck of snow has since fallen on the Peak of Teneriffe; 
 
308 POPULAIl HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 however you need not believe more of it than you choose. 
 The family of the Bethencourts had conquered our island, 
 but the Almighty did not think proper to let them retain 
 possession of it, and Don Diego Herrera, the same whose 
 monument you saw this morning in the church of the con- 
 vent, had become lord of this country. Our forefathers — 
 if it is true that we are their descendants — were at that 
 time still living in the caverns of the Sierra, and near the 
 stony corrals of their flocks of goats, in the large plains. 
 True they had been baptized and they went to mass, but 
 they still continued to mix many heathenish superstitions 
 and customs with the usages of the Christian religion. 
 Well, then came Don Diego de Alcala and Pather Torcaz, 
 both of the Order of St. Francis, to complete the conver- 
 sion of the Majoreros."^ St. Diego became Abbot of the 
 convent of Betancuria; Father Torcaz was his friend, who 
 always accompanied him in his difficult journeys, which he 
 made to preach the Gospel to the new Christians. I dare say 
 the sun often proved rather more hot to his shorn head than 
 he was wont to bear it in Castile ; so one day the pious men 
 squatted down, like ourselves, and not far from the very spot 
 we are now sitting, in the shade of a Palm, to rest their 
 * This is still the Guauche name of the inhabitants of Fucrtaventnra. 
 
PHCENIX. 3(y9 
 
 weary limbs. The soil was strewn with dates, and both ate 
 of them, but alas ! St. Diego bit upon a stone and lost one 
 of his — I dare say not very young — teeth. Irritated, he com- 
 manded, in the presence of a numerous assembly of Isleiios, 
 that the tree henceforward should bear only fruits without 
 stones. Surely the miracle actually took place, and has 
 been repeated every year down to our own day. It is said 
 to have contributed considerably to strengthen the true be- 
 lief, for in those times people were not quite so fond of 
 ridiculing sacred things as they are in these, or like your 
 servant Santiago in particular, who maintained he knew 
 positively that there were not only here in this island, but 
 also in Gomera, a great many of that kind of Date-trees, 
 and if the Saint had been deprived by each of them of one 
 of his molar-teeth, he must have possessed a great many 
 more than other mortals. That is the story of the Dates 
 without stones V 
 
 " It is necessary to observe that the Date-tree is the only 
 indigenous Palm of the Canaries. The Dwarf Fan-Palm 
 {C/ia??i6srops himilis, Linn.), so common on the coast of 
 the Mediterranean Sea, does not extend as far as these 
 islands. One specimen of it is in the Botanic Gardens at 
 Orotava, which I saw in flower in the autumn of 1852. 
 
310 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Isolated Cocoa-nut Palms [Cocos micifera, Linn.) are here 
 and there to be met with. At Santa Cruz there is in 
 one of the gardens of the suburb^ a beautiful specimen, 
 through the fine pinnatisect leaves of which I have often 
 seen, in the winter of 1851-52, the snow of the Ladera de 
 Guimar, — certainly a strange sight. I never heard that in 
 Teneriffe the Cocoa-nut Palm had ever produced fruit, but 
 this is said to be sometimes the case in Gran Canaria. An- 
 other elegant representative of the order of Palms, the Palma 
 real de la Havana [Oreodoxa regia, Kth.) I observed in se- 
 veral gardens of Teneriffe. 
 
 "Let us resume in a few words the conclusions resulting 
 from the foregoing : — 
 
 " 1 . The Date Palm is a genuine (endemic) member of the 
 Canarian flora. Its geograpliical distribution, as such, is 
 between the coast region and an elevation of 2500 feet, i. e. 
 to the lower boundary of the Laurel region ; a greater ex- 
 tension upwards being opposed less by a diminished tem- 
 perature, than by too great a humidity of the air and too 
 great a quantity of rain. 
 
 " 2. The eastern parts of the Canaries, having a more con- 
 tinental climate, and a lesser quantity of rain in the winter, 
 possess the conditions necessary for the development of this 
 
PHCENIX. 311 
 
 Palm in a higher degree than the western, in consequence of 
 which there is a greater number of specimens of it to be 
 found ; notwithstanding however the Date Palm is at pre- 
 sent only found in a few spots of the latter parts truly wild. 
 
 " 3. Ail Palms of the Canaries, with a very few exceptions, 
 have exchanged their wild state with that of cultivation. 
 
 "4. In comparison with former times the number of 
 Date-trees has at present (in consequence of the cultivation 
 of numerous exotic plants) very much diminished. 
 
 "5. The Date-palm reaches in the Canaries the western 
 boundary of its geographical distribution, at least as far as 
 concerns the countries north of the tropic of Cancer ; for 
 south of that boundary it not improbably extends to the 
 Cape de Verde Islands." (Compare page 289.) 
 
 From Fkmiix cladylifera, Linn., we turn to P. si/lvestris, 
 Roxb., — called in Bengalese, Khujjoor; in Sanscrit, Khur- 
 jura ; and in Telinga, Peddaeita, — which Hamilton says so 
 much resembles the true Date-tree, that he has not been 
 able to detect the smallest difference between the latter and 
 this species. P. si/lvestris is common all over India, and a 
 very handsome Palm, which, according to Griffith, is from 
 thirty-four to forty feet high, but which, according to the 
 statement of Dr. Hooker, must in some places attain a much 
 
312 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 greater height, or else he would not be justified in saying 
 that at Tilotho these Palms were so lofty that the climbers 
 [of them], as they paused in the ascent to gaze with won- 
 der at our large retinue, resembled monkeys rather than 
 men." The crown of the tree is about hemispherical, very 
 large and thick, and the leaves are from ten to fifteen feet 
 long. During the cold season this tree yields Tari, or 
 Palm-wine, but the method of extracting it destroys the ap- 
 pearance and fertility of the trees, the fruit of those that 
 have been cut for drawing off the juice being very small. 
 The mode of extracting this juice is by removing the lower 
 leaves and their sheaths, and cutting a notch in the pith of 
 the tree near the top ; from thence it issues and is con- 
 ducted by a small channel made of a bit of the Palmyra leaf, 
 into a pot suspended to receive it. On the coast of Coro- 
 mandel this Palm-juice is either drunk fresh from the tree, 
 or boiled down into sugar, or fermented for distillation, 
 when it gives out a large portion of ardent spirit, commonly 
 called Paria ariik on the coast of Coromandel. Mats and 
 baskets are made of the leaves. 
 
 The Bengalese also boil the juice into sugar. In the whole 
 province of Bengal about 15,000 maunds, or about 1,000,000 
 hundredweight, is made annually. At the age of from seven 
 
PH(ENIX. 313 
 
 to ten years, vvhei! the trunk of the trees will be about four 
 feet high,, they begin to yield juice, and continue productive 
 for twenty or twenty-five years. It is extracted during the 
 cold months of November, December, January, and Fe- 
 bruary, during which period each tree is reckoned to yield 
 from a hundred and twenty to two hundred and forty pints 
 of juice, which averages a hundred and eighty pints ; every 
 twelve pints or pounds is boiled down to one of goor, or 
 jaguri j and four of goor yield one of good powder sugar, 
 so that the average produce of eacli tree is about seven or 
 eight pounds of sugar annually. Another statement gives 
 a much larger produce : viz., the average produce of each 
 tree is sixteen pints per day, four of which will yield two 
 pounds of molasses, and forty of molasses will yield twenty- 
 five pounds of brown sugar. The difference is so great 
 that it cannot well be reconciled, but I am inclined to give 
 most credit to the first. Date-sugar, as it is called, is not so 
 much esteemed as cane-sugar, and sells for about one-fourth 
 less. 
 
 Another East Indian species is PAoenix/arini/era, Willd., 
 the Chilta-eita of the Telinga language, a dwarf plant, com- 
 mon on the hilly country between the Ganges and Cape 
 Comorin, on dry, barren ground, chiefly of the sandy lands. 
 
314 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Its trunk is about one or two feet high, and so entirely 
 enveloped in the sheaths of the leaves, that it is never seen, 
 the whole appearing like a large round bush. The leaflets 
 are wrought into mats for sleeping upon, etc. The common 
 petioles are split into three or four, and used to make baskets 
 of various kinds ; but they are not so good for this purpose as 
 the bamboo, which is very elastic, much more durable, and 
 splits easily. The small trunk, when divested of its leaves, 
 and the strong brown fibrous web that surrounds it at their 
 insertions, is generally about fifteen or sixteen inches long, 
 and six in diameter at the thickest part ; its exterior or woody 
 part consists of white fibres matted together ; these envelope 
 a large quantity of farinaceous substance, which the natives 
 use for food in times of scarcity. To procure this meal the 
 small trunk is split into six or eight pieces, dried, and beat 
 in wooden mortars, till the farinaceous part is detached from 
 the fibres ; it is then sifted to separate them : the meal is 
 then fit for use. The only further preparation it undergoes, 
 is the boiling it into a thick gruel, or, as it is called in 
 India, Jcai(ji ; it seems to possess less nourishment than the 
 common sago, and is less palatable, being considerably 
 bitter when boiled ; probably a little care in the prepara- 
 tion, and varying the mode, might improve it ; however it 
 
PliCENIX. 315 
 
 certainly deserves attention, for whenever rice is too dear, 
 or not to be had, many of the poor are forced to have re- 
 course to this sort of food. Portunately it is one of the 
 most common plants on this part of the coast, particularly 
 near the sea. 
 
 Allied inhabit to Phoenix farinif era, Willd., is P. acmilis, 
 Eoxb., the trunk of which is also extremely short : Griffith 
 says that in plants ten years old there is none. It occurs 
 at Behar, on the elevated plains on the north side of the 
 Ganges, and in the plains of Burmah, between the valley 
 of Hook-hoonk and Mogam. A species closely related to, if 
 not identical with this, is mentioned by Dr. Royle in his 
 well-known ^Illustrations,^ as inhabiting the Kheree Pass, 
 TiwaUk Hills, at an elevation of 2500 feet, in company 
 with Finns longifolia. Other dwarf species are P. Ouseley- 
 ana, Griff., and P. peduncidata, Griff. Eecommendable 
 for ornamental purposes is P. paliidosa, Eoxb., the southern- 
 most Indian species of this genus, which forms very elegant, 
 impenetrable tufts, w^ell adapting it in tropical gardens for 
 bank scenery. The trunks of the smaller trees serve for 
 walking-sticks, and the natives have an idea that snakes 
 get out of the way of any person having such a stick ; the 
 longer trunks for rafters, and the leaves for thatch. 
 
316 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Genus L. PLECTOCOMIA, Martius. 
 
 Malacca, Assam, Java, and the Kassya Hills are the 
 principal seats of the four species of which this genus is 
 composed. They have quite the habit of Eattans, — climb- 
 ing trunks, petioles extended into whip-like thongs, and 
 pinnatisect leaves. Their flowers are dioecious and arranged 
 in large panicles; their fruit is scaly, and either one- or 
 three-seeded. 
 
 The longest-known and perhaps the most gigantic species 
 is P. elonfjatay Mart., a native of Java and Malacca, termed 
 by the Malays " Eotang Dahown," and chiefly used by them 
 for baskets and other wicker-work. Dr. Henderson states 
 that the tails of the leaves are very useful to the police in 
 Java ; two of them are tied to a long pole or handle, and 
 used for catching a run-a-muck Malay. 
 
 '' Plectocomia elongata^^ says Sir W. J. Hooker, "with 
 its luxuriant foliage and its singularly spiny trunk (the 
 spines being digitate, or united together like the fingers of 
 the hand, or still more resembling the foot of the mole, and 
 admirably formed for strength), can hardly fail to attract 
 attention. Its leaves, when full grown, are of vast length, 
 so long indeed that they seem, as does the trunk, to need 
 
PHYTELEPHAS. 317 
 
 support; and Nature has provided them with the meaus, 
 for the main stalk of the leaf at the end extends into a 
 lengthened slender tail, armed all along with strong deflexed 
 hooks, by means of which, while running up among the 
 stems and catching hold of the branches of other trees, the 
 foliage and trunk are propped. A yet more wonderful pro- 
 vision of Nature is observed in the young and yet unfolded 
 leaves of this plant during the period when they insert 
 themselves upwards among the branches of the forests, for 
 then these spines are upright, and lie flat against the stalk 
 of the leaf; not becoming reflexed till they are needed as a 
 means of support/^ 
 
 In our gardens we cultivate two species, viz. P. elongataj 
 Mart. [Calamus maximiis, Rein.), and P. Assamica, Griff. 
 
 Genus LI. PHYTELEPHAS, Fuiz et Pavon. 
 
 Those who deplore that the great geological convulsions, 
 which our planet had to undergo before the present order 
 of things was established, deprived the New World of its 
 ivory-bearing animals, and only suffered their remains to be 
 preserved in the deposits ascribed to the drift period of our 
 
318 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 times, may derive some consolation from the fact that there 
 still exists in the virgin forests of tropical America an ivory- 
 bearing plant, the Fhyteleplias macrocarpa, Euiz et P^v., 
 producing a substance so exactly resembling to the eye the 
 ivory obtained from elephants as to be frequently passed off 
 for such, and even employed by mechanics as far as its size 
 will allow, in place of that article. When the Vegetable 
 Ivory first came to be imported into Europe for commercial 
 purposes has not yet been accurately ascertained ; but there 
 is reason to believe that it was shortly after the Spanish 
 Colonies — ^its -native country — obtained their independence 
 (about the year 1826), as the narrow-minded commercial 
 policy pursued by the Government of the Peninsula towards 
 its dependencies proved an almost insurmountable obstacle 
 to speculations in raw products, which, like the vegetable 
 ivory, yielded but small pecuniary profits, and could there- 
 fore not be introduced into the market under a system the 
 very opposite of that w^hich, under the name of free-trade, 
 has since caused such beneficial changes in commercial and 
 international intercourse. Be that as it may, the vegetable 
 ivory is now largely imported, chiefly from the river Mag- 
 dalena, into Europe and the United States of America ; but 
 we are stiU uncertain to what amount, as we have no sta- 
 
PHYTELEPHAS. 319 
 
 tistical information, both M'CullocVs ' Dictionary of Com- 
 merce^ and lire's 'Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, etc./ 
 being silent on that point. Judging however from the use 
 that is made of the article, the amount must be considerable. 
 I know, from the inquiries instituted by Fred. Scheer, Esq., 
 that in some years no less than a hundred and fifty tons of 
 it were imported into England; and that the "nuts'' are 
 shipped from the places where they grow in large quantities 
 is evident from Purdie mentioning, in one of his letters to 
 Sir W. J. Hooker (Botanical Magazine for 1847, comp. 
 p. 14) : — " A few days ago (about the middle of February, 
 1845) thirty tons of the 'nuts' arrived from the Magdalena 
 (at Santamarta), commissioned for (the United States of) 
 America and Germany." The "nuts" may be purchased 
 in the toyshops of the British metropolis for a few pence 
 each, but when bought in large quantities they are obtain- 
 able at a very much cheaper rate; in August, 1854, one 
 thousand nuts were sold in London for seven shillings and 
 sixpence. 
 
 Long before the attention of commercial men was directed 
 to the vegetable ivory, the existence of the plant producing 
 it was known to botanists. It was during the latter part 
 of the last century that two Spaniards, Ruiz and Pavon, 
 
320 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 gave, in their 'Systeraa Yegetabilium Florse Peruvianse et 
 Chilensis/ published at Madrid in 1798, a scientific name 
 {TTiytelepUas macrocarpa, R. et P.) to it, together with a 
 brief description and a notice of its Peruvian names, and 
 its properties and uses. The generic name (from ^vtov, 
 a plant, and eXec/)a?, an elephant) was certainly well chosen, 
 and has ever since been retained in systematical works; 
 unfortunately the diagnosis attached to it was very imper- 
 fect, and that is the reason why the plant has to tliis day 
 remained without a fixed station in the Xatural System. A 
 short time after the publication alluded to, Humboldt and 
 Bonpland discovered the Tliyteleplias macrocarpa in New 
 Granada, and collected some information concerning it, 
 which however, useful as it proved in many respects, did 
 not throw much light upon it in a systematic point of view. 
 Nor did Gaudichaud^s labours tend much to advance our 
 knowledge in that direction. That botanist did not see the 
 plant growing wild, and his three plates of it, published in 
 the ' Partie Botanique, Voyage de la Bonite,' unaccompanied 
 as they are by any explanatory description, are almost un- 
 intelligible, and moreover they show that he had extravagant 
 notions respecting the species of which the genus Phutele- 
 j»^fl'5 is composed ; he fancying that it was a congregate of 
 
PHYTELEPHAS. • 321 
 
 no less than ten species, all of which he seems to have thought 
 sufficiently characterized by the shape of the seeds — a most 
 variable organ in this instance. In 1845 and 1846 Purdie, 
 acting upon instructions from the Eoyal Botanic Gardens 
 at Ivew, did a great deal towards clearing the mist in which 
 the Ivory-plant had been so long enveloped. 
 
 In 1848, Martins, towards the end of his famous work 
 on Palms, gave, partly from Gaudichaud's figures, partly 
 from imperfect specimens in his possession, a generic cha- 
 racter of P//?/telepkas (Mart., Hist. Nat. Palmarum, vol. iii. 
 p. 306), which greatly tended to place the organization of 
 this remarkable plant in a clearer light. Morren (Dodonsea, 
 vol. iii. part ii. p. 74) also wrote some valuable remarks on 
 the seeds of it. In 1849, Sir W. J. Hooker contributed 
 his share towards the perfection of our knowledge of Fliyte- 
 lepJias. In an able article, published in ' Hooker's Journal 
 of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany' vol. i. p. 204, he 
 reproduced not only the pith of nearly aU that had been 
 written upon the subject by Ruiz and Pavon, Humboldt 
 and Bonpland, Purdie, Martins, and Morren, but also added 
 some valuable observations of his own, as well as a detailed 
 description of the fruit and seed ; and, availing himself of 
 the services of Mr. W. Pitch, he illustrated his paper with 
 
322 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 two plates, the one representing a vie\? of a grove of 
 Ivory-plants on the banks of the Magdalena (from a sketch 
 of Edward Mark) ; the other, the fruit, seed, and several 
 toys made from the albumen. For want of perfect speci- 
 mens of the flowers that author was unable to confirm the 
 accuracy of Martins^ description of those organs, or supply 
 the deficiencies which the latter, from similar causes, was 
 compelled to admit in his generic character. 
 
 In December, 1847, whilst ascending the river Cupica, 
 I had the good fortune to fall in with the Ivory-plant, and 
 afterwards met with it in various other parts of Darien. A 
 selection from the notes taken on those occasions was sub- 
 sequently published (Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew 
 Gard. Misc. vol. iii. p. 303, and' Narrative of the Voyage 
 of H.M.S. Herald,' vol. i. p. 222). It contained a general 
 description of the plant, and dwelt upon the close relation- 
 ship of Phytelephas with Pandanece. Since then there has 
 not been, so far as I know, any additional information given 
 to the world; and it only remains for me to draw up an 
 account of this remarkable production, as perfect as the 
 various materials, published and unpublished, at my dispo- 
 sal will permit. 
 
 The Ivory-plant is confined to the continent of South 
 
PHYTELEPHAS. 323 
 
 America, where it grows between the 9th degree of north, 
 and the 8tli of south latitude, and the 70th and 79th of 
 west longitude. It inhabits damp localities, such as con- 
 fined valleys, banks of rivers and rivulets, and is found not 
 only on the lower coast region, as in Darien, but also on 
 mountains at an elevation of more than 3000 feet above the 
 sea, as in Ocana. Amongst the Spaniards and their de- 
 scendants it is known by the name of '' Palma de marfil^^ 
 (Ivory Palm), whilst its fruit is called by them '^Cabeza 
 de Negro ^' (Negro's head), and its seed "Marfil vegetaP' 
 (vegetable ivory). The Indians on the banks of the Mag- 
 dalena term the plant " Tagua,'' those on the coast of Da- 
 rien " Anta,'' and those in Peru " Pullipunta^' and '^ Ho- 
 mero."'"^ It is generally found in separate groves, seldom 
 intermixed with other trees or shrubs, and where even 
 
 * At the Great Industrial Exhibition in Hyde Park, the nuts were exhibited 
 by R. Fauntleroy and Sous, sub Class 4, No. 135, under the names of " Co- 
 rozo" or "Corusco;" and Archer (Popular Economic Botany, p. 296, first 
 edit.) says : " How these names originated is a mystery, as the Indians call 
 the Palm by the names Pullipunta and Homero." It is indeed a mystery ; 
 but not as the Indians call the Palm " Pullipunta" and " Homero" (for those 
 appellations are only used in very limited districts), but as the name " Corozo" 
 of which Corusco is evidently a corruption, is generally confined to certain 
 oil-palms, of the central parts of America, belonging to the genera Aitalea, 
 Elceis, and Bactris. — B. S. 
 
324 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 herbs are rarely met with, the ground appearing as if it had 
 been swept. The trunk is always pulled down, partly by its 
 own weight, partly by its aerial roots ; and thus forms a 
 creeping caudex, which is frequently twenty feet long, but 
 is seldom higher than six feet. The top is crowned with 
 from twelve to twenty pinnatisect leaves, the entire length 
 of which is from eighteen to twenty feet. The segments 
 are towards the base of the leaf alternate, towards the apex 
 opposite; they are three feet long, two inches broad, and 
 their entire number amounts generally to 160. All the 
 plants which I saw were dioecious, the males always being 
 more robust, and their trunks more erect and higher, than 
 the females. The inflorescence of both emits a most pene- 
 trating, almond-like smell. The inflorescence of the male 
 plant is a simple, fleshy, cylindrical spadix, which has three 
 or four spathes, the flowers of which are densely crowded 
 together, and sessile. They are generally furnished with a 
 small bract, and a calyx consisting of three sepals. The 
 stamens are numerous (thirty-six), the filaments filiform, the 
 anthers linear, erect, affixed nearly at the base, and bilo- 
 cular ; the connective is mucronulate, and the pollen ellip- 
 tical and furrowed lengthways. The inflorescence of the 
 female plant has three or four spathes, and consists of a 
 
PHYTELEPHAS. 326 
 
 simple spadix, bearing on an average from six to seven 
 flowers, which form a dense claster, and are surrounded by 
 bracts, placed in a spiral direction, the uppermost five of 
 which, being often much longer than the style, but generally 
 shorter, and pure white, have the appearance of petals ; the 
 stamens are numerous, free, sterile, inserted in the torus be- 
 tween the petaloid bracts and the ovary. The ovary is from 
 six- to nine-celled, each cell containing a solitary, sessile, 
 erect ovule, attached to an axile placenta. The style is 
 elongated, splitting into six, seven, eight, or nine branches, 
 stigmatose on the edges. The fruit, a collection of from 
 six to seven drupes, forms clusters, which are as large as a 
 man^s head, and stands at first erect, but when approaching 
 maturity — its weight increasing, and the leaf-stalk, which, 
 having up to that period supported the bulky mass, having 
 rotted away — it hangs down. A plant bears at one time 
 from six to eight of these heads, each weighing, when ripe, 
 about twenty-five pounds. The drupes are covered outside 
 with hard woody protuberances, formed in the same manner 
 as those of the trunk of Testudinaria Weplianth'ipes. Each 
 drupe contains from six to nine seeds, but generally seven. 
 The testa is thick, bony; the embryo peripherical, and 
 placed near the hilum. 
 
326 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 In habit, the I'hyteleplias macrocarpa resembles the Co- 
 rozo Colorado {Ela;is melanococca, Gsertn.) ; so much so .in- 
 deed, that at first sight the two are easily mistaken for each 
 other. Both have trunks which, after creeping along the 
 ground a few yards, ascend, and attain about an equal height. 
 Their leaves also resemble each other ; and their fruit grows 
 in a similar way, attached to comparatively short peduncles. 
 The habit, however, is nearly the only Hnk which connects 
 Fhjjteleplias with the order of Palms : its simple spadix, 
 its imperfect flower, its indefinite number of stamens, and 
 its embryo situated in the axis of a fleshy albumen, separate 
 it from Palms, and proclaim it (in conjunction with other 
 characters which it presents) a member of Endlicher^s Class 
 Spadiciflorcej and Lindley^s Alhance Arales. Botanists 
 enumerate four Orders as belonging to that great division 
 [Pistiacece, Typhacece, Aroidea, and PandanecB) . To Pisti- 
 acecB it cannot belong, because (leaving habitual differences 
 out of consideration) it has an axiie placentation. Amongst 
 TyphacerB it cannot be placed, because it has a multiovular 
 ovary. With Aroidea it cannot be associated, because it 
 has a drupaceous fruit ; and with Pandanea. (including Cy- 
 clanthece) it cannot be joined, because it has an axile pla- 
 centation. Eepelled by these and other considerations from 
 
PHYTELEPHAS. 327 
 
 placing it with any of the Natural Orders above mentioned, 
 and finding it impossible to trace out any relationship of it 
 with any other group of plants besides the Sjmcliciflora, we 
 are compelled to adopt the views of Martins, who looks 
 upon it as the type of a new Natural Order {'Pliytelei^han- 
 tliect) . 
 
 The uses of the Ivory-plant may, as far as they are 
 known, be summed up in a few words. The Indians cover 
 their cottages with the leaves of it; but this is only done 
 when those of Palms are not procurable, as the latter last 
 much longer than the former. The seed at first contains a 
 clear insipid flaid, with which travellers allay their thirst; 
 afterwards, this same liquor becomes milky and sweet, and 
 it changes its taste by degrees as it acquires solidit}", until 
 at last it is almost as hard as ivory. The liquor contained 
 in the young fruits turns acid if they are cut from the tree 
 and kept some time. From the kernels (albumen) the 
 American Indians as well as European turners fashion the 
 knobs of walking-sticks, the reels of spindles, and little toys, 
 which are whiter than animal ivory, and equally hard, if 
 they are not put under water ; and if they are, they become 
 white and hard when dried again. Bears, hogs, and turkeys 
 devour the young fruit with avidity. Purdie says : " En- 
 
328 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 closing the seeds is a yellow, sweet, oily pulp, which is col- 
 lected at the proper season (October), and sold under the 
 name of Fipa de Tagua, for one real a pound at Ocaiia; 
 a spoonful of it, with a little sugar and water, makes the 
 celebrated ChicJia de Tagua, said to be the most dehcious 
 beverage of New Granada/' This statement is difficult to 
 reconcile with the internal organization of the fruit, and 
 requires some emendations. Purdie wrote the letter in 
 which it is contained in July, 1845, after he first saw the 
 Ivory-plant, when he could not know, from personal expe- 
 rience, what took place in October following. He must 
 have gathered it, therefore, from information obtained from 
 the native inhabitants, who, not being versed in botanical 
 terminology, might easily have made a mistake. The 
 "yellow, sweet, oily pulp'" can, in my opinion, be nothing 
 save the second state into which the albumen enters, pre- 
 vious to its becoming solid ; and I am the more inclined to 
 think that this opinion is correct, as it is borne out to a 
 certain extent by analogy. For in the Isthmus of Panama, 
 and other localities of New Granada, the name of V'lpa is 
 applied to a beverage prepared from the young albumen of 
 cocoa-nuts, and in a similar way to that described by Purdie. 
 The same author proceeds : — " It has, however, a shghtly 
 
RAPHIA. 329 
 
 drastic property. Although this substance contains much 
 oil^ it never becomes rancid by keeping, but at the end of 
 nine months it preserves, in a crude state, all its flavour 
 and quality/' 
 
 Introduced in our gardens by Purdie, the Ivory-plant 
 has already produced flowers in two places, — a male speci- 
 men in 1852 at Schonbrunn, near Vienna; a female in 1855, 
 at Ivew, near London. 
 
 Genus LII. RAPHIA, Commerson. 
 
 It is now some years ago since Mr. Smith, of the Eoyal 
 Botanic Gardens at Kew, succeeded in raising a remarkable 
 water-plant, which at once became the object of general at- 
 tention and admiration. That plant was Fictoria reg'ia of 
 Lindley, first made more widely known by the comprehensive 
 descriptions and splendid pictorial illustrations of Sir W. J. 
 Hooker, and now cultivated as the pride and gem of almost 
 every garden in Europe. Those minds which, nolens volens, 
 are ever ready to inquire into cause and effect, had, of 
 course, plenty to do to account for the sudden and great 
 popularity of the Royal Water Lily. Some thought it was 
 owing to its interesting history ; but that could not be the 
 
330 POPULAll HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 case, as its history, however interesting, and however well 
 told in Sir W. J. Hooker's writings, did not exceed in that 
 point that of many other plants which had not received an 
 equal share of popular favour. Others thought that the 
 name which the Water Lily bore was sufficient to answer 
 the question ; but however the fact that the name of their 
 justly beloved Queen was associated \nth it might have in- 
 fluenced the people of England, it could not have done 
 the same in foreign countries. Nor could the flower of the 
 Fictoria, beautiful as it is, explain the case ; for there are 
 flowers far surpassing it in beauty ; — nor the curious phe- 
 nomenon of the high degree of heat developed by the an- 
 thers, for that phenomenon is at the best more appreciated 
 by scientific men than by the people, and the experiments 
 of Ed. Otto, Klotzsch, and particularly Caspary, by which 
 it has been placed in a clear Hght, have only lately been 
 brought to a conclusion. Nothing remains then to account 
 for the sudden and lasting popularity of the Fictoria, but 
 the dimensions of its leaves. Man is ever fond of strong 
 contrasts ; and we, accustomed only in our high latitudes to 
 leaves at the utmost but a few inches across, beheld with 
 astonishment bordering on amazement others, measuring 
 several yards in diameter. But if already the foliage of the 
 
HAPHIA. 331 
 
 Victoria could produce such a powerful impression, what 
 would be the effect of the sight of a leaf of llaphla tadigera, 
 which, though not entire like that of the Eoyal Water Lily, 
 covers a surface of no less thau two hundred square feet, 
 and which is probably the largest foliaceous expansion in 
 the Yes'etable Kinscdom ? 
 
 Haphia t^edigera, Mart., the Jupati of the Lingoa Geral, 
 is one of the most striking of the many noble Palms which 
 grow on the rich alluvium of the Amazon. The trunk 
 does not generally exceed six or eight feet in height, and is 
 about a foot in diameter, clothed for some distance down 
 with the persistent sheathing bases of the leafstalks and the 
 numerous spinous processes which proceed from them. 
 These spines are sometimes like those of the Patawa [(Eiio- 
 carjoiis Batava, Mart.), but not so thick and strong. Its 
 comparatively short trunk enables us fully to appreciate the 
 enormous size of its leaves, which are at the same time 
 equally remarkable for their elegant form. They rise nearly 
 vertically from the trunk, and bend out on every side in 
 graceful curves, forming a magnificent plume, seventy feet 
 in height and forty in diameter. " I have cut down and 
 measured," says Wallace, " leaves forty-eight and fifty feet 
 long, but could never get at the largest. The segments, 
 
332 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 spread out four feet on each side of the midrib, are rather 
 irregularly scattered^, and not very closely set ; they drop at 
 the tips. 
 
 " The leafstalk is often twelve or fifteen feet long (below 
 the first segments of the leaf), and four or five inches in 
 diameter, perfectly straight and cylindrical. Wlien dried, it 
 almost equals the quill of a bird for strength and lightness, 
 owing to its thin, hard outer covering, and its soft internal 
 pithy substance. But the Indian values it too highly to 
 use it entire. He splits off the smooth glossy outer cover- 
 ing in perfectly straight strips, and makes baskets and win- 
 dow-blinds. The remaining part is of a consistence between 
 pith and wood, and is split up into laths about half an inch 
 thick, and serves for a variety of purposes. "Window-shut- 
 ters, boxes, bird-cages, partitions, and even entire houses 
 are constructed of it. In the little village of Nazare, near 
 Para, many houses of this kind may be seen, in which 
 all the walls are of this material, supported by a few 
 posts at the angles, and fastened together with pegs and 
 slender creepers {sijjos). The hand may be easily pushed 
 through one of these walls, but as the inhabitants do not 
 trouble themselves with the possession of any article worth 
 stealing, they sleep as composedly as if stone walls and iron 
 
RAPHIxi. 333 
 
 bolts shut them in, with all the security of a more advanced 
 civilization. The same material is also used for stoppers 
 for bottles, and has been found admirably adapted for lining 
 insect boxes, holding the pins securely, and being more 
 uniform in its texture than cork/' It is also, according 
 to Spruce, used at Para for flambeaux. The fruit, a large 
 oblong drupe, has a bitter oily flesh. 
 
 The Jupati is the only American representative of the 
 genus Hcqiliia, and inhabits exclusively the tide-flooded 
 lands of the Lower Amazon and Para rivers. ^^ When de- 
 scending from the Eio Negro to Para, in the summer of 
 1852, I observed,^' says Wallace, "some of our Indians 
 who had made the voyage before, pointing out this tree to 
 their less travelled companions as one of the curiosities 
 of the lower country not to be found in the ^ Sertao.' 
 In Africa Ra])liia has two representatives ; ^. vinifera, 
 Beauv. [Sagus vinifera, Poiret; S. RapJiia, Poir. ; Metroxy- 
 Ion vinifera, Spr.), a native of the west coast, yielding a 
 species of wine, which is termed ^ Bourdon ;' and B. Ri'ffiuj 
 Mart. [R. lyciosa Qipolpnita, Comm. ; R.pedu7iciilata, Palis. 
 de Beauv. ; Sagus pediinciilata, Poir. ; Metroxylon Ruffia, 
 Spr.), a plant cultivated in Madagascar. All three species 
 are to be met with in our gardens. Their trunks are unarmed. 
 
334 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 short, tliickj and ringed ; their leaves large and pinnatisect, 
 bearing linear segments, having spinulose midribs and edges ; 
 the spadices grow from among the leaves, and are very 
 large, and much-branched ; the flowers are monoecious, green- 
 ish or reddish-brown, and the fruit, a one-seeded drupe, is 
 covered with imbricated scales. 
 
 Genus LIII. EHxlPIS, Linnceiis filius. 
 
 Closely related to ChamcErops and Thnnaoc, and inhabit- 
 ing the eastern parts of Asia, is the genus Bhapis, composed 
 of five species, none of which are either distinguished on 
 account of any high degree of beauty or valuable properties. 
 Rhapis faheUiformiSj Ait., a native of the island of Liu- 
 kiu and southern China, is cultivated in Japanese gardens 
 for ornamental purposes, and yields excellent walking-sticks, 
 called by the English " ground rattans." R. Cochinchinen- 
 sis, Mart., is used for thatch and pillars. 
 
 The R/iapis are low Palms, with csespitose roots and reed- 
 like trunks. Their leaves are terminal and palmate, and 
 their petioles surrounded by a fibrous matting. The flowers 
 
SABAL. 335 
 
 are polyganio-dicEcious, and of a yellowish colour. Their 
 fruit is still unknown.^ 
 
 Genus LIY. SABAL, Adanson. 
 
 The feelings with which a botanist beholds those members 
 of a Natural Order of plants representing its extreme geogra- 
 phical limits are very much akin to those experienced by the 
 people in general at the sight of the harbingers of Spring, 
 the snowdrop, the crocus, or the early tulip, and hence 
 arises the interest attached to the genus Sabal, and espe- 
 cially the Sabal Palmetto, Lodd., the most northern species 
 of all the Palms. Sahal, like Chammrops, belongs to the 
 Cori/jj/iinea tribe, and is composed of about half-a-dozen 
 species, all of which inhabit America, between the 18th and 
 34tli degree of north latitude. They are either entirely stem- 
 less or have a middle-sized trunk ; their leaves are palmate ; 
 their flower hermaphrodite, arranged in branched spadices, 
 small, and of a dirty-white or greenish colour. The fruit is 
 a round dark green berry. 
 
 * In our gardens we cultivate : — E.? aspera, Hort, {Chamcprops aspera, 
 Sieb.) ; R. flabelliformis, Ait. ; U. humilis, Blume {ChamceroTps humilis, 
 Thunb. ; C. Sirotsik, Sieb.) ; and R. Kwanwortsik, Hort. {Chamcerops Kwan- 
 wortsik, Siebold). 
 
336 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 Three species inhabit the sea-coasts of tl;e United States 
 of America, viz. S. semi lata , Eoem. et Schult. [Charimrops 
 serndafa, ^lich.), S. Adansonu, Gucrnsent [Chamcerojis 
 glalra, Mill. ; C. acauUs, Mich. ; Cort/pha pv.mUa, Walt. ; 
 Rhaj)is acaulis, AVilld. ; Sahal minor, Pers. ; S.pumila, Ell.), 
 and S. Palmeito, Lodd. {Corypha Palmetto^ Walt. ; Chamcu- 
 rops Palmeffo, Mich.). Sahal serruluia.y E. et S., is found 
 in Georgia and Plorida, but nothing is recorded of its useful 
 properties, nor is the species itself well known, systemati- 
 cally speaking. It has a creeping trunk, and resembles S. 
 Adansonii, but the fruit is double the size of that species. 
 Sabal Adansonii is an almost stemless plant, growing in 
 Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana : Pursh calls it a 
 plant of little beauty. It is however not entirely without 
 use, as the pithy part of the trunk is edible. Sahal Pal- 
 metto, Lodd., the Palmetto of the Americans, is a middle- 
 sized tree, which grows, according to Pursh (Flora of Xorth 
 America, p. 240) in Carolina and Florida, as far north as 
 latitude 34:° 36'. Its roots contain a considerable quantity 
 of tannin ; its wood is used for forming almost everlasting 
 wharfs, and its leaves are manufactured into light and durable 
 hats. 
 
 One species is met with in the Mexican States, \\z. So- 
 
SABAL. 837 
 
 hal Mexicana, Mart. "I never saw this Palm attain a 
 greater height than from twelve to twenty feet/^ says Heller 
 (Bonplandia, vol. ii. p. 157); "in Chiapas and Tabasco I 
 found it planted in regular rows, for the sake of its leaves, 
 used for manufacturing the ' sombreros (hats) de petate.'' It 
 is vernacularly termed Palmato (?". e. great Palm) in contra- 
 distinction to Palmita (^. e. small Palm) ; for the term ' pe- 
 tate ' refers more to the dried leaves used for platting the 
 hats than to the tree itself; moreover a peculiar kind of 
 mats are in Mexico and Central America called ' petates."* 
 The word petate seems to be of Aztec derivation, and ap- 
 pears to signify 'covering,' for tejoetate means 'stony co- 
 vering.'' The leaves are prepared for platting by being 
 dried and bleached in the sun, and then reduced to narrow 
 shreds. The leaves of Corypha inermis are said to be de- 
 voted to the same purpose; but as I have not seen that 
 Palm, I cannot speak from personal experience about it." 
 
 The West Indies produce several species of Sabal, but 
 our knowledge of them is as unsatisfactory as that we pos- 
 sess of the North American ones. "We are even uncertain, 
 or at least have no positive proof, that the best-known 
 species, S. umbraculifera, Mart., is a native of that archi- 
 pelago, as has generally been supposed. Mr. John Smith, 
 
338 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 of Kew, saySj in one of his memoranda : — " S. umhraculiferaj 
 Mart. [S. Blacl'hurniana, Hort. Augl., Coryplia umhracu- 
 lifera, Hort. Germ.) is the plant called^ in the last edi- 
 tion of 'Hortus Kewensis/ Corypha umhracidifera, and the 
 two large specimens of it in the Eoyal Botanic Gardens at 
 Kew were for many years so called ; but although we have 
 long known this species to be quite distinct from the well- 
 know^n Corypha umbraculifera of the East Indies, yet we are 
 still uncertain about its native countr : it is generally sup- 
 posed to be the West Indies, but we can furnish no evidence 
 of that being actually the case. All the specimens culti- 
 vated in England are very old, and it is singular that new- 
 ones have never, as far as my personal knowledge goes, 
 been imported. It is by some recognized (by its appear- 
 ance) as the Great Bull or Thatch Palm of Jamaica : that 
 may be correct, but it is singular that, although we have of 
 late years received at Kew both living and dried specimens 
 of Jamaica Palms, yet this species was not among them. 
 Mr. Blackburn informed me that the traditionary history of 
 this plant is that it came from Africa, and that the two 
 specimens in Kew Gardens were the produce of seeds ripened 
 on his specimens, and sent thither ; which, if correct, must 
 be, judging from the appearance of the two specimens at 
 
SEAFORTHIA. 339 
 
 present (185 5), at least sixty years ago. There is a Fan- 
 Palm in AYestern Africa specifically unknown to us, but that 
 could hardly be identical with this, as the habit of S. umhra- 
 cidifera has more that of the AYest India type, rendering it 
 probable that this plant is a native of Cuba, as has been 
 asserted.""^ 
 
 Genus LV. SEAFORTHIA, B. Broivn. 
 
 The shores of New Holland and the islands of the Indian 
 Archipelago are the native countries of this genus, which 
 by some authors is restricted to a very few species, by 
 others made to include a considerable number of those 
 generally grouped together under Areca. As I have already 
 mentioned several species under the latter genus, the few 
 words I shall have to say about Seaforthia will apply to 
 that genus only in its restricted sense. The Seaforthias are 
 elegant trees, with unarmed ringed trunks, large pinnatisect 
 leaves, bearing reduplicate, eroded segments ; the flowers are 
 
 * In our garden catalogues we find the following species enumerated : — 
 Sabal Adansonii, Guern. ; S. Adansonii, var. major ; S. glaucescens, Lodd. ; 
 S. Havanemis, Lodd. ; S. Mexicatia, Mai't. ; S. minima ? Nutt. ; S. Palmetto, 
 Lodd. ; S. serrulata, R. et Sch. ; S. umbraculifera. Mart. {S. Blackhurniana, 
 Hort.) ; and S. Woodfordiana, Lodd. 
 
340 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 axillary, polygamo-dioecious, placed on branched spadices, 
 and generally greenish ; the fruit is an oval one-seeded 
 berry.^ 
 
 Genus LYI. SLAKIA, Grij, 
 
 SlaJcia geonomceformis, Griff., the Pinang Rambeh of the 
 Malays, is as yet the only representative of this genus, — a 
 genus allied to Bentinckia {Kejyplera), from which it differs 
 in its spathes and ruminated albumen. It is rather common 
 in forests near Malacca. Its trunk is from two to four feet 
 high, about half an inch in diameter, unarmed, and dis- 
 tinctly ringed; its leaves are pinnatisect, with linear seg- 
 ments, and from three to three and a half feet long ; its 
 spadices are axillary and drooping, bearing simple spikes, 
 which are often two, but sometimes more, in number ; its 
 drupe is blackish-purple, and obovately oblong. In our 
 gardens it is still a desideratum. 
 
 * "Wendland, adopting larger limits for this genus than I have here done, 
 gives the following list of the cultivated species : — Seaforthia coronata. Mart. 
 {Piiianga, Bl.)i S. costata. Mart. {Pinanga, Bl.) ; S. Dicksonii, Mart. {Pi- 
 nanga, Bl.); 5. elegans, R. Rrown ; S. KuhJii, ^lart. {Pinanga, BL); S. 
 latisecta, Mart. {Pinanga, Bl.); S. oryzeeformis. Mart,, and S. sylvesiris 
 Mart. {Pinanga Javana, Blume). 
 
THRINAX. 341 
 
 Genus LYII. SYAGRUS, 3Iariius, 
 
 The Palms associated under the name of Byagrus are 
 closely allied to the genus Cocos, and inhabit the tropical 
 parts of America. They are unarmed trees, with ringed 
 trunks and terminal pinnatisect leaves, having linear seg- 
 ments; their flowers, appearing in the axils of the leaves, 
 are monoecious, and their fruit is a one-seeded, oblong 
 drupe.^ 
 
 Genus LVIII. THRINAX, Linnaus filius. 
 
 The "chip hats,^"* so much worn in warm weather in 
 England, have been ascertained to be made of the leaves of 
 Thrinax argentea, Lodd., a member of a beautiful genus of 
 Palms, inhabiting the West India Islands and the neigh- 
 bouring continent. Thrinax is composed of about ten spe- 
 cies,t all of which have a low or middle-sized trunk, un- 
 
 * The following species are ciUtivated in European gardens : — Syagrus 
 amara. Mart. {Cocos amara, Jacq.); S. botryophora, Mart. {Cocos hotry- 
 ophora. Mart.); S. campestris, Herm. Wendl. {Cocos campestris, Lodd.); 
 S. Mikaniana, Mart. {Cocos Mikaniaua, Mart.); S. pluyrtosa, Herm. Wendl. 
 {Cocos plumosa, Lodd.); and S. reflexa, Herm. Wendl. {Cocos reflexa, Hort. 
 Germ.). — Herm. Wendl. Index, 1. c. p. 38. 
 
 t We cultivate in our gardens — Thrinax argentea, Lodd.; T. excelsa, 
 
342 POPULAR HISTOUY OF PALMS. 
 
 armed, but often clad with the persistent bases of the pe- 
 tioles ; terminal, fan-shaped leaves ; green or greenish-yellow, 
 hermaphrodite flowers, arranged in axillary branched spa- 
 dices ; and a round, one-seeded berry. 
 
 The leaves of T. argentea are also manufactured into 
 baskets and other kinds of wicker-work in the West Indies, 
 as well as at St. Albans in Hertfordshire ; and they are 
 made into brooms in the Isthmus of Panama, whence the 
 tree has received in the latter country the name of " Palma 
 de escoba^' (Broom Palm). The leaves of various other spe- 
 cies {T. parviflora, Sw., T. picmiUo, Lodd., T. multiflora, 
 Mart., etc.) serve as thatch. 
 
 Genus LIX. TRITHEIXAX, Martins. 
 
 In a popular work this genus may be dismissed in a few 
 words. Of its useful properties we know nothing. Only 
 one species, Tntfirinax Brasiliensisy Mart., growing in the 
 campos of the province of Eio Grande de S. Pedro, between 
 the rivers Uruguay and Paraguay, may be said to be the 
 
 Lodd.; T. ferruyinea, Lodd.; T. graminifolia, Hort. (T.fragilis, Hort.); T. 
 parviflora, Swartz ; T. parviflora, Hort. ; T. jjurnilio, Lodd. ; T. radiata, 
 Lodd.; T. rupestris, Lodd.; and T. stellata, Lodd. — Wendl. Index Palm. p. 39. 
 
WALLICHIA. 343 
 
 genuine representative of this genus ; for T. aculeata, Liebm., 
 from Central America, and T. mauritlaformis, Hort. (both 
 cultiv^ated in European conservatories), are doubtful con- 
 geners. T. Brasiliensis has an erect unarmed trunk, bear- 
 ing fan-shaped leaves, hermaphrodite or (by abortion) poly- 
 gamous greenish-yellow flowers, and one-seeded berries. 
 
 Genus LX. WALLICHIA, Roxhurgk. 
 
 Like Canjota, to which it is allied, the genus WallicMa 
 has the peculiarity of flowering only once during the term 
 of its existence, and having leaves the segments of which 
 resemble the fins and tail of a fish; but the latter diifer 
 essentially from those of Caryota, by being pinnatisect in- 
 stead of bi-pinnatisect. The Wallichias form a part of the 
 underwood in the forests of Chittagong, Assam, and the sub- 
 Himalayan range, at Darjeling. They are low, spreading 
 Palms, with reed-like trunks, sometimes creeping (sobolife- 
 rous) ; their leaves are pinnatisect, and furnished with net- 
 like fibres ; the segments are wedge-shaped, variously eroded, 
 and on the upper surface dark green, on the lower whitish 
 with black dots; the flowers are monoecio - dioecious ; the 
 
344 POPULAR HISTORY OF PALMS. 
 
 berry, containing a caustic juice, is somewhat dry, one- or 
 two-seeded, oblong, or sometimes oblique, and of a red or 
 white colour. 
 
 WaUichia, which commemorates the name of the well- 
 known botanist, jSTathaniel Wallich, is composed of half-a- 
 dozen species. W. caryotoides, Eoxb. [Harinia cari/otoides, 
 Hamilt., Wnghfia cari/otoides, Roxb.j, the Chilputta or 
 Belputta of Cliittagong, has long been an inmate of our 
 gardens, and is one of the most characteristic species of this 
 genus. It is an elegant tufted Palm, each tuft consisting 
 of several very short trunks ; the leaves, ascending, curved, 
 are eight or nine feet long, two and a half feet broad. W. 
 porphyrocarjpaj Mart. {Carijota humilis, Eeinw., Orania re- 
 galls, BL, W. Oranii, Bl.), has also been for some years 
 cultivated in Europe, as has also been another species, IF. 
 densijlora, Hook., introduced by Dr. Hooker from the East 
 Indies. 
 
 Genus LXI. ZALACCA, Rumjphms, 
 
 The Palms composing this genus are spreading, almost 
 stemless plants, without the whip-like elongations of the 
 petioles, characteristic of Calamus and Plectocomia, and 
 
ZALACCA. o45 
 
 others of its allies ; the petiole, together with the sheath, are 
 both armed with several series of rigid spines ; the leaves are 
 piiinatisect ; the flowers are monoecious, arranged in round 
 catkins; the fruit is often scaly, containing from one to 
 three seeds (which latter are like berries). All the species 
 inhabit the forests of the islands and continent of Tropical 
 Asia. Zalacca Wallicliiana, Mart. [Z. eduUs, Wall.), the 
 Salac Koombar of Penang, common in swampy places about 
 Malacca^ the Tenasserim provinces, as well as in Burmah, 
 has a fruit which, like that of the Salac Batool [Z. affiuisy 
 Griff.) and the Eungum of Malacca [Z. 7)iacrostachya, Griff.) 
 is edible. The petioles of the leaves of Z. macrostachya 
 when split are used for tying on Atajp of house-thatch, com- 
 posed of the leaves of Ni])a fruticans, and are also made 
 into baskets and other descriptions of wicker-work. Nothing 
 is recorded of the other species of this genus, — for instance, 
 the Assam-Koomber of Penang and the Assam-paiah of the 
 Malays of Malacca {Z. confer fay Griff.), and the Salak of 
 Penang [Z. ylabrescejis, Griff.) ^ 
 
 * We cultivate in our gardens : — Zalacca Blumeana, Mart. {Z. edulis, 
 BL), and Z. Wallichiana, Mart. {Z. edulis. Wall.). — Wendl. Index Palm., 
 p. 41. ' 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Aa . . . , 162 
 
 Acrocomia, 3Iart 45 
 
 aculeata, Lodd 46 
 
 Cubeusis, Lodd. 46 
 
 globosa, Hort 249 
 
 lasiospatha, Mart. . . . 46, 48 
 
 ^Mexicaoa, Karv: 48 
 
 sclerocarpa, Mart. . . . 46, 51 
 
 Zapotecis, Janff 48 
 
 Aracuri 180 
 
 African hair 142 
 
 African Palm-oil 191 
 
 Akel 64 
 
 Alfonsia oleifera, ^.5.^. . . .201 
 Amarishiua's name for Palms . 23 
 
 Amesoneuron, Goepp 27 
 
 anceps, Gcepp 29 
 
 cah-ptrocalyx, Gcepp. ... 29 
 dracophyllum, Gcepp. ... 29 
 
 fagifolium, Gcepp 29 
 
 Anao 63 
 
 Anatomical Structure of Palms . 1 3 
 
 Anau 63 
 
 Anowe 63 
 
 Anta 323 
 
 Page 
 
 Arairi 160 
 
 Areca, Zi?tn 49 
 
 alba, Bori/ 59 
 
 alba, Hort 212 
 
 Baueri, Hook 61 
 
 Banksii, 3/art 59 
 
 Catechu, JFiHcl. 50 
 
 criuita, 3Iarf 59 
 
 Dicksonii, Roa-d 57 
 
 horrida, Grif. 274 
 
 laxa, Harnilt 57 
 
 lutescens, Hort 212 
 
 Madagascariensis, Mart. . . 59 
 
 monostachya, Mart 59 
 
 Nagensis, Griff. 57 
 
 Nibung, 3Iart 274 
 
 olerace\ Linn. . . . 277, 279 
 
 pumila, Mart 59 
 
 rubra, Bory 59 
 
 sapida. Batiks et Sol. . . . 59 
 
 tigillaria. Jack 274 
 
 triandra, Roxb 59 
 
 Areca-nut 49 
 
 Aren 63 
 
 Arenga, La Bill 61 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Arenga Griffithii, Seem. ... 61 
 
 Manillensis, Hort 61 
 
 obtusifolia, Mart 61 
 
 saccharifera, La BUI. . . 61, 62 
 Westerhoutii, Griff. ... 61 
 
 Aricuri 180 
 
 An-ack ]70 
 
 Astrocaryum, C. 'F.W.Meyer . . 71 
 
 acaule, Mart 72, 74 
 
 aculeatum, Mey 72 
 
 Awarra, Hort 73 
 
 k^n^Mart 72 
 
 campestre. Mart 72 
 
 Murumuru, Mart. ... 73, 74 
 
 rostratum, Hook 73 
 
 Tucuma, Mart 73, 74 
 
 vulgar e, Mart 73 ' 
 
 Assai 10 j 
 
 Assam Koonbar 345 i 
 
 Assam-paiah. 345 
 
 Attalea, H.B.K. 76 
 
 amygdalina, H. et K. . . . 76 
 
 Butiros, Lodd 76 
 
 Cohune, 3Iart. . . 76, 80, 280 
 
 compta. Mart 76 
 
 coronata, Lodd 76 
 
 excelsa. Mart 76, 97 
 
 fuuifera, Mart. . . 76, 77, 231 
 
 Maripa, Mart 76 
 
 speciosa, 3Iart 76 
 
 spectabilis, Maj-t 76 
 
 Atap 345 
 
 Bacaba 272 
 
 Baccites, Zenk 27 
 
 Bactris, Jacq 97 
 
 acanthocarpa, 3Iart 99 
 
 Caracasana, Lodd. .... 99 
 
 Page 
 
 B. caryotsefolia, 3Iart 99 
 
 chsetorachis, 3Iart 99 
 
 Corozillo, Hort 99 
 
 cuspidata (?), Mart 99 
 
 globosa (minor), Gcertn. . . 47 
 
 Macanilla, Hort 99 
 
 macracantba, Mart 99 
 
 macrantha (major) Jacq. . 98, 99 
 
 Maraja, Mart 98, 99 
 
 martineziaeformis, Hort. . . 99 
 
 miuax, ]\Iiq 99 
 
 minor, Jacq 98 
 
 pallidissima. Mart 99 
 
 Poiteauana, Ho7-t. Paris. . . 99 
 
 simplicifrons, 3Iart 99 
 
 setosa. Mart 99 
 
 varinensis, Hort 99 
 
 Bentinckia (Kepplera), Berry . 124 
 Codda-panna, Berry . . . .124 
 
 Bertam 202 
 
 Betel-nut 40 
 
 Betel-nut tree 50 
 
 Bhyass 274 
 
 Birgos 177 
 
 Bonga 50 
 
 Borassus, Limi 99 
 
 ? ^tbiopum, Mart 100 
 
 flabelliforrais . . . . 31, 100 
 
 Gomutus, Lour ,62 
 
 pinnatifrons, Jacq 140 
 
 Bourdon ........ 333 
 
 Brahea, Mart 126 
 
 dulcis. Mart 126 
 
 Branched Palms 16 
 
 Buriti 257 
 
 Burtinia, Endl 27 
 
 Bussu 247 
 
 Bussu cloth . ... ... 248 
 
INDEX. 
 
 349 
 
 Page 
 Cabbage of Cocoa-mit Tree . .160 
 Cabbage Palm of West Indies . 277 
 
 Cabe9udo 179 
 
 Cabeza de Negro . . . .323 
 
 Caiaue 201,271 
 
 Calamus, Linn 128 
 
 asperrimus, Hort 180 
 
 ciliaris, Bl 130 
 
 criuitns, Wendl 130 
 
 Draco, Linn 128-130 
 
 heteroideus et var., Bl. . . . 130 
 
 Javensis, Bl 130 
 
 latisj)mus, ffort 130 
 
 maximus, Rein 317 
 
 montanus, Rorf 130 
 
 niger, Willd. 130 
 
 oblongus, Hort 130 
 
 oblongus, Reiniv 130 
 
 omatus, Bl 130 
 
 rhomboideus, Hort 130 
 
 Rotaug, Limi. . . . 130, 131 
 Royleanus, Gnf. . . 129, 131 
 rudentum, Lour. . . . 130, 131 
 
 Salacca, Hort 130 
 
 Scipionum, Lour 131 
 
 verus, Lour 130 
 
 Calamosagus, GriJ". . . . .127 
 barinifefolius, GriJ^. . . . .127 
 
 laciniosus, GriJ^. 127 
 
 ochriger, Grif. 127 
 
 scapiger, GriJ^. 127 
 
 wallichijefolius, GriJ". . . .127 
 
 Calapha 179 
 
 Calappa Laut 238 
 
 Cane-bridge 133 
 
 Cana de la vibora 228 
 
 Carana 9 
 
 Carnauba 182 
 
 Page 
 Carrying off the palm .... 22 
 
 Caryota, Linn 134 
 
 furfuracea, Bl 138 
 
 burailis, Rein 344 
 
 maxima, Bl 137, 138 
 
 mitis, Lour 137 
 
 obtusa, Grif. 137 
 
 obtusidentata, Grif. . . .137 
 propinqua, Bl. . . . 137, 138 
 
 Rumphiana, 3Iart 137 
 
 sobolifera. Wall. . . . 137, 138 
 
 urens, Linn 136, 138 
 
 CasteUinia, 3Tassal 27 
 
 Catechu 57 
 
 Ceratolobus, Bl 138 
 
 glaucescens, Bl 138 
 
 Ceroxylon Andicola, ^.^.Z". 218, 222 
 
 Klopstockia, Mart 218 
 
 niveum, Hort. . . , ' . 218 
 
 Chanicedorea, IVilld 138 
 
 Arenbergiana, Wendl. . . . 140 
 
 atrovirens. Mart 140 
 
 aurautiaca, Hort 140 
 
 Bartliugiana, Wendl. . . . 140 
 
 brevifrons, Wendl 140 
 
 Casperiana, Kl 140 
 
 concolor, Hort 140 
 
 desmoncoides, Wendl. . . . 140 
 
 elatior, Hort 140 
 
 elegans, Mart 140 
 
 Ernesti-Augusti, Wendl. . . 140 
 
 fenestrata, Hort 140 
 
 fibrosa, Wendl 140 
 
 flavo-virens, Wendl. . . .140 
 
 flexuosa, Hort 140 
 
 geouomseformis, Wendl. . .140 
 
 glauci folia, Wendl 140 
 
 gracilis, Hort 140 
 
350 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 C.gi-acilis, WlUd 140 
 
 gramiiiifolia, Wencll. . . . 140 
 
 humilis, Jlort 140 
 
 Karwiuskiana, Wend/. . . . 149 
 Klotzschiana, Wendl. . . . 140 
 latifrous, Uort. , . . . .140 
 
 lepidota, Wendl 140 
 
 Lindcniana, Uort 143 
 
 Lindeniana, Wendl 140 
 
 lunata, Lieb 140 
 
 Martiana, Hort 140 
 
 INIartiana, Wendl 140 
 
 Mexicana, Hort 140 
 
 oblongata, Mart 140 
 
 oblongata, Uort 140 
 
 pygmsea, Wendl 140 
 
 radicalis, Mart 140 
 
 regia, Hort 140 
 
 repens, Hort 140 
 
 resinifera, Wendl 140 
 
 robusta, Hort. . . . ' . 140 
 
 Sartorii, Lieb 140 
 
 scandens, Hort 140 
 
 Schiedeaua, Hort 140 
 
 Schiedeana, 3fart 140 
 
 simplieifrons, Hort 140 
 
 speciosa, Hort 140 
 
 Tepejelotc, Lieb 139 
 
 velutina, Hort 140 
 
 Chamicrops, Linn 141 
 
 acaulis, 3fick 336 
 
 arborescens, Pers 141 
 
 aspera, Lieb 335 
 
 Biroo, Jlort 23 S 
 
 caUosa, Fttlc/i 141 
 
 Chinensis, Hort 141 
 
 Cocliinchinensis, Lour. . . . 141 
 conduplicata, Hort 141 
 
 Page 
 
 C. excelsa 141, 144. 
 
 fenestrata, Hort 2!."» 
 
 glabra, Nutt 336 
 
 gracilis, Lodd 141 
 
 Griffitliiana, Lodd. . . 141, 144 
 
 Gnianensis, LodA 141 
 
 humilis, Linn 23 
 
 humilis, Thunb 335 
 
 Hystrix, Fras. . . 141, 142, 145 
 
 Kwanwortsik, Lieb 335 
 
 Martiana, Wall 141 
 
 Palmetto, 3fich 336 
 
 Ritchiana, GriJ^. 144 
 
 serrulata. Hick. . . . 145, 336 
 tomentosa, Hort. Germ. . . 141 
 
 Chattah 235 
 
 Chattah-pat 234, 235 
 
 Chilta-eita 311 
 
 Cbip hats 5, 341 
 
 Chiquichiqui 77 
 
 Classification of Fossil Palms . . 26 
 Cleophora contarioides, Gcertn. . 230 
 
 Cocoa-nut 6 
 
 Cocoa-nut milk . . . . 165, 174 
 
 Cocoa-nut oil 174 
 
 Cocoa-nut tree 146 
 
 Coco de Mer 238 
 
 Cocos, Linn 146, 178 
 
 aculeata, Jacq 47 
 
 amara, Jacq 341 
 
 Australis, Mart 178 
 
 botryophora, Mart 341 
 
 butyracea. Mart. . . . 178, 180 
 
 campestris, Lodd 341 
 
 capitata, Mart 179 
 
 Chilensis, Mol 225 
 
 coronata. Mart 179 
 
 flexuosa. Mart 178 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Page 
 
 C. fusiforniis, Sw 47 
 
 Jatta, Hort 185 
 
 lapidea, Gartn 77 
 
 Maldivicns 238 
 
 Mikaniana, J/rt-r^ 341 
 
 nucifera . . .19,31,178,179 
 oleracea, ^lart. . . . 178, 180 
 plimiosa, Hort. Kew. . . .178 
 
 — ]Aumosa, Lodd 341 
 
 reflexa, Rort 341 
 
 schizophylla. Mart. . . 178, 179 
 
 Coco de Salomou 238 
 
 Codda-panna 124 
 
 Cohuue Oil 82 
 
 CohuaePalin 80 
 
 Cool 106 
 
 Copemicia, Mart 181 
 
 Barbadensis, Hort 185 
 
 cerifera, Mart. . . . 18, 182 
 
 hospita, Mart 183 
 
 maritima. Mart 185 
 
 jSJiraguama, Mart. . . 18, 184 
 
 Pumos, 3Iart 184 
 
 robusta, IFendl 185 
 
 tectorura .... 18, 183, 185 
 
 Coqueiro 179 
 
 Coquillas 80 
 
 CoqniUo-nut 5, 80 
 
 Coquito babroso 49 
 
 C'orozo 323 
 
 Corozo Colorado 201 
 
 Corozo gallinazo 96 
 
 Comsco 323 
 
 Corvpha, Linn 185 
 
 Australis, R. Br 237 
 
 cerifera, Ar. da Cam. . . .182 
 
 Cumingii, Lodd 187 
 
 dulcis, H.B.K. 126 
 
 Page 
 
 C. Gebanga, Bl 186, 187 
 
 Guanacoa, Hort 185 
 
 inermis 337 
 
 macrophylla, Hort. Germ. . . 187 
 
 maritima, i2. Br 185 
 
 :\Iira2uama, H.B.K. . . .184 
 
 Palmetto, Walt 336 
 
 Pumos, H.B.K. 184 
 
 rotuadifolia. Lam 238 
 
 tectorum, H.B.K. . . 183, 184 
 
 Tbebaica, Linn 214 
 
 umbraculifera, Hort. . . . 338 
 umbraculifera, Linn. . 186, 187 
 
 Coury 58,59 
 
 Coyoli 48 
 
 Cuem-ito 18 
 
 Cultivation of Palms in Nortbern 
 
 Europe 36 
 
 Curry Cocoa-nut 165 
 
 Daemonorhops, Bl 130 
 
 asperrimus. Hart 130 
 
 melanocha?tes, Bt 130 
 
 niger, Hort 130 
 
 oblougus, Bl 130 
 
 Salacca, Hort 130 
 
 vimiualis, Hort 130 
 
 Dates 5 
 
 Date-tree 279 
 
 Datiles 292 
 
 Deleb Palm 215 
 
 Derivation of tbe term " Palm " . 23 
 
 Desmoncus, Mart 187 
 
 ? aculeatus, Hort 188 
 
 dubius, Lodd 188 
 
 latifrons, 3[art 188 
 
 macracantbus, Mart. . . .188 
 mitis, Mart 188 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 D. orth&cauthns? 3Iart. . . .188 
 
 prunifer, Peep 188 
 
 Diplothemium, JIart 190 
 
 caudescens, Hort 273 
 
 maritimum, 3fart 190 
 
 D'jumang 130 
 
 Doh 63 
 
 Double Cocoa-nut . . . .21, 238 
 
 Doomale Tel 114 
 
 Douma Thebaica, Poir. . . .214 
 
 Dragons'-blood 130 
 
 Drymophljeus 135 
 
 Duk 63 
 
 Dwarf Fan Palm . . . .23,142 
 
 Efeniu 175 
 
 Ejoo 63 
 
 Eju 63 
 
 Elacis, Jacg 191 
 
 Guineensis, Lvrn 200 
 
 melanococca, Gcvrtn. . . 31, 200 
 Pernambucana, Lodd. . . . 201 
 
 Eugeissonia, Griff. 202 
 
 tristis, Grff. 202 
 
 Euterpe 203 
 
 Caribfea, Spr 277 
 
 edulis. Mart 205, 206 
 
 globosa, Hort 59 
 
 montana, Grah. . . . 205, 206 
 oleracea, Ifart. . . 10, 205, 206 
 pisifera. Sort 59 
 
 Extreme Geographical limits of 
 Palms 30 
 
 Fascicnlites, Coita 26 
 
 riabellaria, Sterub 26 
 
 Flowers of Palms 79 
 
 Fossil Palnis 25 
 
 Page 
 
 Folias:e of Palms 16 
 
 Foolful 50 
 
 FulcMronia Senegalensis, Lesel. . 284 
 
 GebangPalm 186 
 
 General Description of Palms , 13 
 Geographical Distribution of Palms 25 
 Geolosical Distribution of Palms 25 
 
 Geonoma, Willd 206 
 
 acutiflora, Mart 207 
 
 baculifera, Kth 207 
 
 diversa, Kth 207 
 
 fenestrata, Hort 246 
 
 fragilis, Hort. Par 207 
 
 fragraus, Hort 207 
 
 interrupta ? 3Iart 207 
 
 latifrons, Hort 140 
 
 maxima, Kth 207 
 
 pinnatifrons, Willd 207 
 
 Pohliana, Hort 47 
 
 Portiana, Hort 207 
 
 pulchella, Hort 207 
 
 Schottiana, Mart 207 
 
 simplicifrons, Willd. . . . 207 
 
 Spixiana, Mart 207 
 
 uiidulata, Kl 207 
 
 Willdenowii, Kl 207 
 
 Gini^erbread-tree 214 
 
 Goat ^Yillow 281 
 
 Gomuti 63, 64 
 
 Gomutus obtusifolius, Bl. ... 61 
 
 saccharifer, Spr 62 
 
 Goorvaka 50 
 
 Gravatanas 222 
 
 Great Bull-Palm 338 
 
 Great Macaw-tree 47 
 
 Guilielma, Mart 207 
 
 Macaiia, 3Iart 208 
 
INDEX. 
 
 353 
 
 Page 
 
 G. speciosa, Mart 10, 208 
 
 spectabilis, 3Iart 208 
 
 Habit of Palms 14 
 
 Habitat of Fossil Palms ... 28 
 
 Habitat of Palms 32 
 
 Hariuia caryotoides, Ham. . . 344 
 
 Heigbt of Palms 15 
 
 Hell-water 69 
 
 Heotau 131 
 
 Homero 323 
 
 Hyophorbe, Gartn 212 
 
 Indica, Gcertn 212 
 
 lutescens, Hort 212 
 
 Hyospatbe, Mart 212 
 
 elegans, Hort 140 
 
 elegans. Mart 212 
 
 Hyphaene, Gcertn 213 
 
 cuciferaj Pars 214 
 
 Thebaica, Mart. ... 31, 214 
 
 Ija 63 
 
 Importance of Palms to mankind 7 
 
 Inaja 261 
 
 Ipuruma 253 
 
 Iraiba 180 
 
 Iriartea, Ruiz et Pav 216 
 
 altissima, Kl 218 
 
 Andicola, Spr. ... 218, 222 
 exhorrhiza. Mart. 217, 218, 219 
 
 ferruginea, Hort 218 
 
 Klopstockia, Hort 218 
 
 prsemorsa, Kl 218 
 
 setigera. Mart 221 
 
 ventricosa, Mart 217 
 
 Ita 252 
 
 lu . . . 72, 74 
 
 Jacitara 188 
 
 Page 
 Jaggery ........ 68 
 
 Jaggery of Cocoa-nut Tree . .171 
 Jaggery of Palmyra . . . .119 
 
 Jagua 18 
 
 Jagua Palm 259 
 
 Jagmi 313 
 
 Jara 230 
 
 Jara Palm 9 
 
 Jhapee 235,237 
 
 Jnhxa, H.B.K 225 
 
 spectabilis, H.P.K. .... 225 
 
 Jupati 331 
 
 Jnriparis 218,219 
 
 Kabong 67 
 
 Kafa 173 
 
 Kassu 58 
 
 Kawul 63 
 
 Kelingoos 106 
 
 KeKngoo Flour 106 
 
 Kentia sapida, 3fart 59 
 
 Kbujjoor 311 
 
 Khurjura 311 
 
 Ki 64 
 
 King Cocoa-nut 165 
 
 Kings among Grasses .... 23 
 
 Kittul 137 
 
 Kittul-fibre 136 
 
 Klopstockia cerifera, Karst. . . 218 
 
 Kobri Chulloo 179 
 
 Koroomba 163 
 
 Kuntbia, H. et B 228 
 
 Xalapensis, Otto et Dietr. . . 140 
 
 Lagbi 288 
 
 Lagen 63 
 
 Largest Palm -fruit 21 
 
 Latania, Commers 229 
 
 2 A 
 
354 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Latania Borbonica, Lam. . . .237 
 
 ChineBsis, Jacq 237 
 
 Commersonii, Linn 229 
 
 Loddigesii, Mart 229 
 
 rubra, Jacq 229 
 
 Leaves of Palms 17 
 
 Leopoldinia, Mart 230 
 
 major, Wallace 231 
 
 Piassaba, Wallace . . .77, 231 
 
 pulchra, 3Jarf 230 
 
 Lepidocaryum, 3Iart 233 
 
 gracile, 3Iart 233 
 
 tenue, 3Iarf 233 
 
 Licuala, Rumph 233 
 
 aciitifida, Mart 5, 233 
 
 bredpes, Hort 185 
 
 elcgans, Bl 234 
 
 gracilis, Bl 234 
 
 horrida, 5/ 234 
 
 nana, Bl 234 
 
 peltata, Bx}xb 234 
 
 pumila, Beinw 234 
 
 Rurapbii, ^/ 234 
 
 spiuosa, Wuriyib 234 
 
 Lif 286 
 
 Lithocarpus coccifonnis, Tarq. . 77 
 Livistonia, B. Brown .... 235 
 
 Australis, R. Br 237 
 
 inermis, Sort 59 
 
 Jenkinsiana, GriJ^. . . 237, 238 
 
 Mauritiana, Wall 238 
 
 olivreforrais, 3Ta?i 238 
 
 rotundifolia, 3/^r/;. . . 237,238 
 spcctabilis, &rij'. . . . .238 
 
 Lodoicea, La Bill 238 
 
 Secbeliarum, La Bill. . . . 238 
 
 Loutar 100 
 
 Loudoiiia excelsa. Sort. . . .141 
 
 Page 
 Luyos 50 
 
 !Macahuba 46 
 
 Macajah 46 
 
 Macaja 46 
 
 Macauba 46 
 
 Macaw 46 
 
 Macoja 46, 47 
 
 jNIakre 64 
 
 Malacca canes 131 
 
 Malortiea, Wendl 246 
 
 gracilis, Wendl 246 
 
 latisecta, Wendl 246 
 
 Manicaria, Gartn 247 
 
 saccifera, Gcertn 247 
 
 ^Manilla Dragons' Canes . . .130 
 
 Maqueiras 255 
 
 Martinezia, R. et Pav 249 
 
 aculeata,^/ 249 
 
 Aiphanes, 3Iart 249 
 
 cai-yottefolia, S.etK.. . . 249 
 
 ? globosa. Sort 249 
 
 ? truncata, Brong 249 
 
 Maron 179 
 
 Mauritia, Linn 250 
 
 Caraua, Wallace 9 
 
 flexuosa, Z/««. . . . 251,252 
 
 vinifera, 3Iart 257 
 
 Maximiliana, 3fart 259 
 
 regia, 3Iart 261 
 
 insignis. Mart 261 
 
 iMayam 68 
 
 Metroxylon, Kcenig .... 262 
 
 ? elatum, 31art 267 
 
 filare, 3Iart 267 
 
 Ipeve, 3Iart 262 
 
 Ruffia, Spr 333 
 
 Rumphii, 3fart 262 
 
INDEX. 
 
 355 
 
 Page 
 
 M. vinifera 333 
 
 Miel de Palma 226 
 
 Miriti 252 
 
 Mocaja 46 
 
 Molinaea 225 
 
 Monchono 64 
 
 Morenia, Ruiz et Pav 268 
 
 corallocarpa, Hort 268 
 
 fragrans, R. et Pav 268 
 
 oblougata, Wendl 140 
 
 Pceppia;iana, Mart 268 
 
 Morichi " 252,256 
 
 Morii 175 
 
 Mucuja 46, 48 
 
 Murichi 252 
 
 Muriti 256 
 
 Murmuru 74 
 
 Nariel 179 
 
 Narikel 179 
 
 Narikela 179 
 
 Narikelee 179 
 
 Nari Kundum 179 
 
 Nargel 179 
 
 Native country of Palms ... 29 
 
 Naun 64 
 
 Nawa 64 
 
 Nawasi 166 
 
 Nera 68 
 
 Neruila 179 
 
 Niaa 164 
 
 Niau 159 
 
 Nipa 270 
 
 Nipa, Thunb 268 
 
 fruticans, Thunb 268 
 
 littoralis, Blanco 268 
 
 Nipadites 27 
 
 Number of Palms knowu ... 35 
 
 Page 
 Number of Fossil Palms known . 28 
 Number of Palms uuder cultivation 35 
 
 Odials 106 
 
 (Enocarpus, Mart 270 
 
 altissimus, Kl 273 
 
 Bacaba, 3Iart. . . . 270, 273 
 
 Batava, Mart 271 
 
 Bolivianus, Hort 273 
 
 Caracasauus, Lodd 273 
 
 Chiragua, Hort 273 
 
 Cubarro, Sort 273 
 
 disticba, 3fart 271 
 
 regius, Spr 277 
 
 Sancona, Spr 278 
 
 utilis, Kl 273 
 
 Oil Palm of Africa 191 
 
 Oini 160 
 
 Olas 111,113 
 
 Ollabs 113 
 
 Omate (or Omute?) . . 164,167 
 
 Oncosperma, Bl 274 
 
 filamentosa, Bl 274 
 
 liorrida, Seem 274 
 
 Opaa 164 
 
 Orania regalis, Bl 344 
 
 Oreodoxa, JFilld 276 
 
 ? acuminata, JFilld. . . 278, 279 
 ? frigida, R. et K. . . . . 278 
 oleracea, Mart. . . . 277, 279 
 regia, H. et K. . . . 217, 279 
 ? Sancona, R. et K. . 278, 279 
 
 Ota 174 
 
 Oua 163 
 
 Pala^ospatha, linger .... 27 
 
 Palma 23 
 
 Palmacites, Brovgn 26 
 
356 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Palma de escoba 342 
 
 Palma de marfil 323 
 
 Palma de sombrero .... 184 
 
 Palma de vino 180 
 
 Palma dulce (de Rio ^lagdalena) 180 
 Palma real de la Havana . . .277 
 Palma real (del Rio Sinu) . . .180 
 Palma real (de Panama) ... 96 
 
 Palma redonda 184 
 
 Palma serra 184 
 
 Palmato 337 
 
 Palmeira 100 
 
 Palmita 837 
 
 Palmita of Quindiu 278 
 
 Palm-bouses 37 
 
 Palm-house at Kew 38 
 
 Palm Oil 48, 192 
 
 Palm Sunday 22 
 
 Palms, the princes of the Vegetable 
 
 Kingdom 11 
 
 Palm Wine 96 
 
 Palmv days 22 
 
 PalmVra ' 100 
 
 Palymra wood .... 107, 108 
 Parinariura Senegalense . . . 214 
 
 Pashiuba barriguda 9 
 
 Pataica 270 
 
 Pa-tiari 167 
 
 Pana 160 
 
 Peach Palm 10,211 
 
 Peddaeita 311 
 
 Penang Lawyers 233 
 
 Pe'nu 54 
 
 Penu massu 54 
 
 Penu mudr 54 
 
 Petate 337 
 
 Phees 145 
 
 Phcenicites, Brongn 27 
 
 Page 
 
 Phoenix, Linn 279, 282 
 
 acaulis, Samilt. . . . 284, 315 
 dactvlifera, L. . . 19, 279, 284 — 
 farinifera, Soxb. . . . 284, 313 
 
 ferruginea, Sort 284 
 
 Ouseleyana, GriJ^. .... 285 
 
 paludosa, Roxb 315 
 
 pedunculata, GriJ". . . . .285 
 reclinata, Jaeq. . . . 284, 285 — ■ 
 spinosa, Thonn. . . . 284, 285 
 sylvestris, ]iaj:b. . . . 284, 311 
 
 Phytelephas, R. ei R 317 
 
 macrocarpa, R. et R. . . .318 
 Piassaba (Pia9aba) . . .76, 77, 78 
 
 Penang 50 
 
 Pinanga coronata, Bl 340 
 
 costata, Bl 340 
 
 Dicksoni, Bl 340 
 
 Javana, Bl 340 
 
 Kuhlii, Bl 340 
 
 latiserta, 5/ 340 
 
 Nenga, Bl 59 
 
 Pinong 54 
 
 Pirijao 18,208 
 
 Pirita 208 
 
 Plass tikooss 233 
 
 Plectocomia, 3Iart 316 
 
 Assamica, Griff. 317 
 
 elongata, Mart 316 
 
 Poetical association of Palms . . 22 
 
 Poka Chelloo 50 
 
 Pol . . 165 
 
 Pol wakere 170 
 
 Poolooc Odials 106 
 
 Poonak 174 
 
 Princes of the Vegetable Kingdom 23 
 
 Ptychosperma appeudiculata . . 138 
 
 ' Pullipnnta 323 
 
INDEX. 
 
 357 
 
 Page 
 
 Pumos 184 
 
 Punatoo 122 
 
 Pupunha 10,208 
 
 Putoo 106 
 
 Rack 170 
 
 Raphia, Commers 329 
 
 Ivciosa, Comtn 333 
 
 Ruffia, 3Iart 333 
 
 polymita, Comm. 333 
 
 tfedigera, 3Iart 331 
 
 Rau para ' . 1 60 
 
 Relationship of Palms . , . . 12 
 Remains of Fossil Palms ... 26 
 
 Rhapis, Linn.fil 334 
 
 ? aspera, Hort 335 
 
 ? Cochinchinensis, Bl. . 141, 334 
 ' flabelliformis, Jit. . . 334, 335 
 
 humilis, Bl 335 
 
 Javanica, Sort 234 
 
 Kwanwortsik, Hort 335 
 
 Rotang Dahown 316 
 
 Rotang Donam 127 
 
 Rotang Simote 127 
 
 Rumbiya 264 
 
 Sabal, Adans 335 
 
 Adansonii, Gniern. . . 336, 339 
 Blackbnrniana, Hort. . . .338 
 
 glaucescens, Lodd 339 
 
 Havaneusis, Lodd 339 
 
 maritima, Hort 185 
 
 Mexicana, 3fart. . . . 337, 339 
 
 minima (?) Kutt 339 
 
 minor, Pers 336 
 
 Palmetto, Lodd. . 335, 336, 339 
 
 pumila, B/l 336 
 
 serrulata, R. et S. . . 336, 339 
 
 Page 
 
 S. umbracitlifera, ILart. . 337, 339 
 
 Woodfordiana, Lodd. . . . 339 
 
 Sago 262,264 
 
 Sagu 264 
 
 Saguerus Langkab, Bl. ... 61 
 
 ^Manillensis, Hort 61 
 
 Rumphii, Bo.rb 62 
 
 Sagus elatus, Beinw 267 
 
 Ifevis, Binnph 263 
 
 Raphia, Pois 333 
 
 Rumphii, Willd 263 
 
 vinifera, Poir 333 
 
 Sagwire 64 
 
 Salak 345 
 
 Salac Koombar 345 
 
 Salac Batool 345 
 
 Salix Caprea, Z?«?? 281 
 
 Saribus Chinensis, Bl 238 
 
 rotundifolius, Bl 238 
 
 olivseformis, Hassk 238 
 
 Sasa 270 
 
 Seaforthia, R. Br 339 
 
 coronata, Mart 340 
 
 costata, Mart 340 
 
 Dicksonii, Mart 340 
 
 elegans, R. Br 340 
 
 Kiihlii, 3Iart 340 
 
 latiseeta. Mart 340 
 
 oryz?eformis, 3Iart 340 
 
 prsemorsa, Hort 59 
 
 sylvestris, Mart 340 
 
 Seho 64 
 
 Seje Palm 21 
 
 Segments (leaflets) of Palm -leaves 18 
 Shakspeare's Palm-tree . . .281 
 
 Sheath of Palms 19 
 
 Slakia, Griff. 340 
 
 geonomscforaiis, Griff. . . . 340 
 
358 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Soze 144 
 
 Soopai'a 50 
 
 Soyale 126 
 
 Spadix of Palms 19 
 
 Spathe of Palms 19 
 
 Structure of Palm-leaves ... 16 
 
 Structure of Palms 13 
 
 Syagrus, Mart 341 
 
 amara, Mart 341 
 
 botryophora, Mart 341 
 
 campestris, IVendl 341 
 
 Mikauiana, Mart 341 
 
 plumosa, Wendl 341 
 
 reflexa, Wendl 341 
 
 Systematic position of Palms . , 11 
 
 Tagua 323 
 
 Taho uiau 160 
 
 Tal TOO 
 
 Tala 100 
 
 Talcaha 103 
 
 Taliipot-tree 186 
 
 Tamar 292 
 
 Tamaras 292 
 
 Tamareo 292 
 
 Tareet 186 
 
 Tembili 165 
 
 Teuga 179 
 
 Tepejelote 139 
 
 Thatch-Palm of Jamaica . . .338 
 
 Thrinax, Linn, fit 341 
 
 argentea 5, 341 
 
 Barbadensis, Sort 185 
 
 excelsa, Lodd 341 
 
 ferrugiuea, Lodd 342 
 
 fragilis, Ilort 342 
 
 graminifolia, Hort 342 
 
 multiflora, Hort. . . 185, 342 
 
 Page 
 
 T. multiflora, 3Iart 342 
 
 parviflora, Hort 342 
 
 parviflora, Sw 342 
 
 pumilio, Lodd 342 
 
 radiata, Lodd 342 
 
 robusta, Hort 185 
 
 rupestris, Lodd 342 
 
 stellata, Lodd 342 
 
 Tiari 167 
 
 Tree of Life 254 
 
 Trinragau 100 
 
 Trithrinax, 3Iart 342 
 
 aculeata, Lieb 343 
 
 Brasilieusis, Mart 342 
 
 mauriti^efolius 343 
 
 Truuk of Paluis 15 
 
 Toddy of Arenga saccbarifera . 66 
 Toddy of Cocoa-uut tree . . . 168 
 Toddv of Palmyra-tree . . . .115 
 
 Toko-pat 237 
 
 Toxophoenix aculeatissima, Sc/ioit 72 
 
 Tucum 73, 256 
 
 Tucuma . 74 
 
 Tumu Haari 176 
 
 Tuwak 63 
 
 Urucuri 97 
 
 Urucuri-iba 179 
 
 Vegetable Hair 142 
 
 Vegetable Ivory 318 
 
 Vegetable Ivory-plant .... 6 
 Vinho 272 
 
 WaUichia, Roa:l> 343 
 
 caryotoides, Bo.vb 344 
 
 densiflora, Hook 344 
 
 Oranii, Bl 344 
 
INDEX. 
 
 359 
 
 Page 
 W. porphyrocarpa, Mart. . . . 344 
 "SVrightia caryotoidesj Roxb. . . 344 
 
 Yukisse 272 
 
 Zalacca, Runiph 344 
 
 Blumeana, Mart 345 
 
 Page 
 
 Z. couferta, Griff. 345 
 
 edulis, Bl 345 
 
 edulis, Wall 345 
 
 glabrescens, Griff. .... 345 
 macrostachya, Griff. .... 345 
 
 Wallichiana 345 
 
 Zeugophyllites, Brongn. ... 26 
 
 THE END. 
 
 JOHX BDWABD TATLOB, PRINTER, 
 LITTLB QUBKN STBBET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 
 
\-3^