VEGETABLE IVORY PALM. 205 
at first contains a clear insipid fluid, with which travellers allay their 
thirst; afterwards this same liquor becomes milky and sweet, and it 
changes its taste by degrees as it acquires solidity, till at last it is 
almost as hard as Ivory. The liquor contained in the young fruits 
turns acid if they are cut from the tree and kept some time. From 
the kernel the Indians fashion the knobs of walking-sticks, the reels of 
spindles and little toys, which are whiter than Ivory, and equally hard, if 
they are not put under water, and if they are, they become white and 
hard when dried again. Bears devour the young fruit with avidity.” 
This species, P. macrocarpa, is characterized by having a “short 
caudex and very large heads of fruit," which distinguish it from a second 
supposed species “ destitute of caudex, and with ec fruit," P. m 
carpa, possessing the same native names and properties. 
Humboldt next detected the Palm in New vibes: especially common 
on the banks of the Magdalena, where it is known by the name of Tagua, 
and where, he tells us, “ buttons are made from the hard bony perisperm 
of the seed." Gaudichand, in the still unfinished Partie Botanique of 
the ** Voyage de la Bonite," devotes three plates to the illustration of the 
flowers and fruit of what he deems several species of Phytelephas of 
Peru and Columbia; but being, as we have already observed, unac- 
companied by any observations, we are ignorant on what grounds he 
rests his distinctive characters. 
At what period these seeds, or “nuts,” were first brought to 
England to be used by turners, &c., we have no means of ascer- 
taining, nor to what extent they are now imported. Mac Culloch, in 
his Dictionary of Commerce, and x Ure in his Dictionary of Arts, 
Manufactures, &e., are alike silent. But from the use that is made 
of them the amount is probably considerable; and in the turners’ 
and toy-shops of London, may be purchased, for a shilling each, 
the nuts, or more properly speaking the seeds, either entire, or with 
one half of the coat removed by turning, so as to exhibit the beau- 
tiful ivory-like texture of the interior. The entire seeds, thus pur- 
chased, had been planted in our Garden ; but they had never been made 
to germinate. Hence all due instructions were given to Mr. Purdie 
when he was sent on his botanical mission, some account of which is 
published in the Companion to the Botanical Magazine, and in rela- 
tion to the Phytelephas or Tagua in particular, in the volume for 1847, 
We there learn that the Palm inhabits dense shady woods on hills facing 
