KEW GARDEN MUSEUM. 109 
J. S. Fry, W. H. Benson, A. F. Ridgeway, J. Wetherell, H. Battcock, 
Esqs. Sir James Brooke (Dyak Cloth of Borneo), Dr. Hooker (Cotton 
Cloths from Bhootan, Sikkim ; Purses from Soane River, etc.), Dr. Wight, 
Dr. Imray (various kinds from Dominica), ete. 
Ord. BousaAcEex. SILK CorTON-TREE FAMILY. 
An Order nearly allied to the last, and included in it by Jussieu, 
possessing the same properties. They constitute large trees in tropi- 
cal climates of the Old and New World, and are adorned with very 
large, handsome flowers. Trees, generally speaking, bear insignificant 
flowers: those of this Family are remarkable for their great size. 
Baobab, or Monkey Bread-fruit. Adansonia digitata, L. Fruits and 
flowers, in liquid. Tropical Africa. These large fruits are the product 
of one of the most remarkable trees in the world, of which, and its 
flowers, there are drawings in the Museum. A trunk has been measured 
by Adanson on the coast of Senegal, thirty feet in diameter; the height 
of the tree however rarely exceeds eighty feet,—by no means corre- 
Sponding with its thickness. The wood is pale, light-coloured, and 
soft, so that in Abyssinia the wild bees perforate and lodge their honey Ec 
in the trunk, which honey is considered the best in the country. On — — - 
the west coast of Africa the trunks are hollowed by the natives, and 
their dead deposited there, where they become mummies. They pul- 
verize the leaves, which constitute Zalo, a favourite article, which they 
mix with their daily food, to diminish excessive perspiration, and which 
is even used by Europeans in fevers, diarrhoeas, ete. The fruit is per- - 
haps the most useful part of the tree: its pulp is acid and agreeable, 
and the juice, mixed with sugar, constitutes a drink that is deemed a 
specific in putrid and pestilential fevers, and is therefore an article of 
commerce. It seems to inhabit most of the tropical parts of Africa, 
and we have lately received the fruit, gathered by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Steele at the great interior Lake, Ngami. 
Flower of Pachira alba, in liquid. Brazil. (Hort. Kew.) ee 
Silk or Down and Fruit from the Bombax Munguba, Mart. Brazil. 
(Mr. Spruce.) Used for stuffing cushions: considered hotter than: 
feathers. 
Silk and Fruit from Eriodendron Samauma, Mart. Rio Solimóes, 
Brazil. (Mr. Spruce.) The Silk Cotton used by the Indians of the- 
Amazon for wrapping round the ends of the arrows which they use- 
with the blowpipe, and also for stuffing cushions. j 
