410 LAURUS. 



It mislios out ill such ([uaiiliiies, llial iicvcral (quarts uiay he (tbiained hy a siuglc 

 incision."* 



Nearly allied to the same natural family are the genera Tectona and Vitex 

 the latter of wliirh cnihrares scn^oral s]i('cies of doriduous shrubs and trees, 

 natives of tlie south of Kunipe, India, China, and of iNorlh America. The only 

 hardy kind is the Vitex agiuis-castus, indigenous to Sicily. The teak-tree, 

 (Tectona grandis,) which is justly called the "oak of the east," abounds in the 

 vast fori'sts of Java, Ceylon, Malabar, Coroniandel, cScc, more esjx'cially in the 

 Hinnan and Pegu empires. Its timber is considered superior to all others I'or 

 ship-building. It is easily wrought, and at the same time is both strong and (hira- 

 ble. This tree, Mr. Roylc informs us, has been planted as far north as Saha- 

 runpore, in India, in about the same latitude as the northern parts of Old (Califor- 

 nia, and of the Canary Islands; where, from their mountainous character, it ia 

 highly probable it might be cultivated with success. 



* See Nuttall's North American Sylva, p. 89. 



