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weapons, food, and habitations. The most remarkable is the Cocoa Nut, 

 of which an excellent account will be found in the Trans, of the Wernerian 

 Society, vol. 5. The root is sometimes masticated instead of the Areca 

 Nut; of the small fibres baskets are made in Brazil. The hard case of the 

 stem is converted into drums, and used in the construction of huts ; the 

 lower part is so hard as to take a beautiful polish, when it resembles agate; 

 the reticulated substance at the base of the leaf is formed into cradles, 

 and, as some say, into a coarse kind of cloth. The unexpanded terminal 

 bud is a delicate article of food ; the leaves furnish thatch for dwell- 

 ings, and materials for fences, buckets, and baskets ; they are used for 

 writing on, and make excellent torches ; potash in abundance is yielded 

 by their ashes ; the midrib of the leaf serves for oars ; the juice of the 

 flower and stems is replete with sugar, and is fermented into excellent 

 wine, or distilled into a sort of spirit, called Arrack ; or the sugar itself 

 is separated under the name of Jagery. The value of the fruit for food, 

 and the delicious beverage which it contains, are well known to all Euro- 

 peans. The fibrous and uneatable rind is not less useful ; it is not only 

 used to polish furniture and to scour the floors of rooms, but is manufac- 

 tured into a kind of cordage, called Coir rope, which is nearly equal in 

 strength to hemp, and which Dr. Roxburgh designates as the very best of 

 all materials for cables, on account of its great elasticity and strength. 

 Finally, an excellent oil is obtained from the kernel by expression. The juice 

 which flows from the wounded spathes of Palms, especially of Cocos nuci- 

 fera, is known in India by the name of Toddy. Independently of the 

 grateful qualities of this fluid as a beverage, it is found to be the simplest 

 and easiest remedy that can be employed for removing constipation in 

 persons of delicate habit, especially European females. Ainslie, 1. 451. 

 Palm oil is chiefly obtained from Elais guineensis, and this tree is also said 

 to yield the best kind of Palm-wine. The succulent rind of the Date is one 

 of the most agreeable of fruits. Sago is yielded by the trunk of nearly all, 

 except Areca Catechu, but especially of Sagus farinifera and Phoenix farini- 

 fera. The well known Betel Nut is the fruit of Areca Catechu, and re- 

 markable for its narcotic or intoxicating power; from the same fruit is 

 prepared a kind of spurious Catechu. Ibid. 1. Q>5. The Brazilian Indians, 

 especially the Puris, Patachos, and Botocudos, m.anufacture their best bows 

 from the wood of a species of Cocoa Nut, called the Airi, or Brejeuba. 

 Pr. Max. Trav. 238. The Ceroxylon andicola, or Wax Palm of Humboldt, 

 has its trunk covered by a coating of wax, which exudes from the spaces 

 between the insertion of the leaves. It is, according to Vauquelin, a con- 

 crete inflammable substance, consisting of l-3d wax and 2-3ds resin. It 

 is a very remarkable fact, first noticed by Mr. Brown {Congo, 456.), that 

 the plants of this order whose fruit affords oil belong to a tribe called 

 by him Cocoinse, which are particularly chanicterised by the originally tri- 

 locular putamen having its cells when fertile perforated opposite the seat 

 of the embryo, and when abortive indicated by foramina caica. The dark- 

 coloured inodorous and insipid resin, called Dragon's Blood, is obtained in 

 the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago by wounding the Calamus 

 Draco ; it is said to be of finer quality than that procured from Pterocarpus. 

 Examples. The following arc Von Martius's sections of the tribe. 

 {Programma, p.' 7.) 



1. Saualin T-. Spathes numerous, incomplete. Ovarium 3-celled. Berry 

 or drupe 1-3-seeded. (Chamanlorea, Thrinax.) 



2. CoRYrniN,T,.. Spathes numerous, incomplete. Pistils .'5, cohering 

 inwardly, 1 only usually ripening. Berry or drupe many-seeded. (Rhapis, 

 Piitenix.) 



