Chap. 7.] THE PALM-TREE. 171 



which first gave the idea of a troop of soldiers presenting face 

 on two sides at once ; at the present day they are split asunder 13 

 to form ropes and wythes for fastening, as well as light um- 

 brellas u for covering the head. 



The more diligent 15 enquirers into the operations of Nature 

 state that all trees, or rather all plants, and other productions 

 of the earth, belong to either one sex or the other ; a fact 

 which it may be sufficient to notice on the present occasion, 

 and one which manifests itself in no tree more than in the 

 palm. The male tree blossoms at the shoots ; the female buds 

 without blossoming, the bud being very similar to an ear of 

 corn. In both trees the flesh of the fruit shows first, and 

 after that the woody part inside of it, or, in other words, the 

 seed : and that this is really the case, is proved by the fact, that 

 we often find small fruit on the same shoot without any seed in 

 it at all. This seed is of an oblong shape, and not rounded 

 like the olive-stone. It is also divided down the back by a 

 deep indentation, and in most specimens of this fruit there 

 is exactly in the middle a sort of navel, as it were, from which 

 the root of the tree first takes its growth. 16 In planting this 

 seed it is laid on its anterior surface, two being placed side 

 by side, while as many more are placed above ; for when 

 planted singly, the tree that springs up is but weak and 

 sickly, whereas the four seeds all unite and form one strong 

 tree. The seed is divided from the flesh of the fruit by several 

 coats of a whitish colour, some of which are attached to the 

 body of it ; it lies but loosely in the inside of the fruit, ad- 

 hering only to the summit by a single thread. 17 



The flesh of this fruit takes a year to ripen, though in some 

 places, Cyprus 18 for instance, even if it should not reach ma- 

 turity, it is very agreeable, for the sweetness of its flavour : 

 the leaf of the tree too, in that island, is broader than else- 

 where, and the fruit rounder than usual : the body of the fruit 



13 See B. xvi. c. 37. 



14 " Umbracula." The fibres of the leaves were probably platted or woven, 

 and the "umbracula" made in much the same manner as the straw and 

 fibre hats of the present day. 



15 Most of this is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant, ii. 9. 



16 Fee remarks, that this account is quite erroneous. 



17 This he copies also from Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8. 



18 Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8, mentions this as a kind of date peculiar to 

 Cyprus. 



