PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 103 



formerly a place of great importance, but now only a mass of picturesque ruins, 

 which tell the melancholy story of its former splendour. Palmyra was also called, 

 Tadmor, and, in the sacred book of Chronicles, it is described as having been built 

 by Solomon. On the other hand, the city of Palmyra is said to have derived its 

 name from the word palm, in consequence of this plant nourishing in its vicinity. 

 The Palmyra palm is a stately plant, common in the islands of the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago, and the southern parts of India. Its leaves are used in making fans and 

 punkahs, and also in thatching ; the fruit is eaten ; the sap is drank in its natural 

 state, and forms a refreshing drink, or is evaporated to make a coarse sugar ; but, if 

 fermented, it forms one of the intoxicating liquors of tropical countries ; our 

 intelligent associate, Mr. Molyneux, tells me, that he has often seen the natives of 

 India drawing off the palm juice for this purpose. 



My friend, Mr. Butler, thinks that these Indian letters are formed of the leaf 

 of the date-palm (Phoenix dactyliferd) and not of the Palmyra palm. Mr. Butler 

 having forwarded a leaf of the former to me, I will give a short account of the 

 plant, which fulfils a very important part in the economy of nature, its fruit being 

 the almost only food of a large portion of mankind. The date tree is one of the 

 best known, and, probably, the earliest known of the palms ; it is the palm tree of 

 Scripture, and was emblematic of Judaea, as is learned from coins. 



"The extensive importance of the date-tree is,'' says Dr. Clarke, u one of the 

 most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his attention. A considerable 

 part of the inhabitants of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia subsist almost entirely on its 

 fruit. They make a conserve of it with sugar, and even grind the hard stones in 

 their handmills for their camels. In Barbary, they form handsome beads of these 

 stones. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes ; the 

 trunk is split, and used in small buildings, also for fences to gardens, and the stalks 

 of the leaves for making cages for their poultry. Parts of the leaves are also twisted 

 into ropes, which are employed in rigging small vessels. The sap of this species 

 also yields the intoxicating liquor of which I have already made mention ; by the 

 withdrawal of the sap the stem is exhausted, becomes dry, and is used for firewood. 

 Such being the importance and multiplied uses of the date-tree, it is not surprising 

 that, in an arid and barren country, it should form so prominent a subject of 

 allusion and description in the works of Arab authors, and have so many names in 

 their language." About fifteen years ago, the finest date-tree in Europe was in the 

 conservatory of the Earl of Tankerville, at Walton-on-Thames ; it was then 

 sixty years old, the stem seven feet four inches in circumference, and the leaves 

 thirty feet long. 



The last plant, to which I will direct your attention, is a very beautiful and in- 

 teresting member of the Cycadete, I mean the sago palm (Cycas revoluta)* of 

 Japan ; where Thunbergf tells us it is held in such estimation, that it is contrary 

 to the laws of Japan to take the trees out of it. The Cycas revoluta (of which I ex- 

 hibit a leaf) is not, however, the only plant from which sago is procured ; of late 

 years a very fine sago has been brought from Brazil, supposed to be the produce of 

 the Mauritia flexuosa, and some of the other magnificent palms of that country ; a 

 species of the date-tree, Phoenix, also yields an abundant supply of this flour, 

 hence it is called farinifera, or flower bearing ; there are other plants, also, of the 

 palm tribe which yield sago, but an enumeration of them is unnecessary. 



It will be more interesting to describe the process of preparing sago, which 

 signifies, in the language of the Papuans, bread, since it forms the staple article of 

 food to the inhabitants of the eastern Archipelago and other parts where the plants which 

 yield it grow. Sago is a variety of starch, which nature has supplied to the plantfor the 

 use of the flowers and fruit, and is most abundant just before the appearance of 

 the flour-bud, which is known by a whitish dust appearing on the leaves. At this 

 time the stem is cut down, near the base, and then divided into pieces of five or 



*The leaves of the date-tree and of the sago palm— which were exhibited at the meeting — were 

 taken from plants growing in the conservatory at Woodstock, the seat of the Right Hon. William F. 

 Tighe. The conservatory is circular, and was designed and executed in metal, by J. Turner, of 

 Hammersmith, Dublin. 



t Thuuberg, a celebrated Dutch traveller and botanist, in honour of whom the pretty genus of 

 jtoue plants, Thunbergia, was so called. 



