ILLUSTRATIONS (15). PALMS. 301 



palms are expressive of a grandeur of character which it is 

 difficult to describe in words. The stem (caudex) is simple, 

 and very rarely divided into branches after the manner of the 

 Dracaena, as in Cucifera thebaica (the Doom Palm), and in 

 Hyphaene coriacea. It is sometimes disproportionately thick, 

 as in Corozo del Sinu, our Alfonsia oleifera ; of a reed-like 

 feebleness, as in Piritu, [Kunihia montana), and the Mexican 

 Corypha nana ; of a somewhat fork-like and protuberant form 

 towards the lower part, as in Cocos ; sometimes smooth and 

 sometimes scaly, as in the Palma de Covijao de Sombrero, in 

 the Llanos ; or, lastly, prickly, as in Corozo de Cumana and 

 Macanilla de Caripe, having the thorns very regularly arranged 

 in concentric rings. 



Characteristic differences also manifest themselves in the 

 roots, which, in some cases, project about a foot or a foot and 

 a half from the ground, raising the stem on a scaffolding, as 

 it were, or coiled round it in a padded-like roll. I have seen 

 viverras and even very small monkeys pass under the scaffold- 

 ing formed by the roots of the Caryota. Occasionally the 

 stem is swollen only in the middle, being smaller above and 

 below, as in the Palma Real of the island of Cuba. The 

 green of the leaves is either dark and shining, as in Mauritia 

 Cocos, or of a silvery white on the under side, as in the slender 

 fan-palm, Corypha Miraguama, which we saw in the harbour 

 of Trinidad de Cuba. Sometimes the middle of the fan-like 

 leaf is adorned with concentric yellow and blue stripes, in the 

 manner of a peacock's tail, as in the prickly Mauritia, which 

 Bonpland discovered on the Bio Atabapo. 



" The direction of the leaves is a no less important charac- 

 teristic than their form and colour. The leaflets (foliola) are 

 either ranged in a comb-like manner close to one another, 

 with a stiff parenchyma (as in Cocos Phoenix), to which they 

 owe the beautiful reflections of solar light that play over the 

 surface of the leaves, which shine with a brilliant verdure in 

 Cocos. and with a fainter and ashv- coloured hue in the date- 

 palm ; or sometimes the foliage assumes a reed-like appear- 

 ance, having a thinner and more flexible texture, and being 

 curled near the extremity (as in Jagua, Palma Real del Sitae, 

 Palma Peal de Cuba, and Piritu del Orinoco). This direction 

 of the leaves, together with the lofty stem, gives to the palms 

 their character of high majesty. It is a characteristic of the 



