36 PALM TREES 



tree seventy feet high growing immediately over his 

 head. 



In the forests where these trees grow, numbers of 

 young plants of every age may be seen, all miniature 

 copies of their parents, except that they seldom possess 

 more than three legs, which gives them a strange and 

 almost ludicrous appearance. 



The figure on the opposite page (Plate XIII.) repre- 

 sents accurately the roots of a tree which had been 

 partly blown down in the forest of the Upper Rio 

 Negro. My friend Mr. Spruce informs me that it is 

 a distinct species from that found at Para, though 

 closely allied to it, and scarcely differing in the cha- 

 racter of the roots. 



The wood of these trees is very hard on the outside, 

 but soft and pithy within. It splits easily and very 

 straight, and is much used for forming the floors of 

 canoes, the ceilings of houses, shelves, seats, and various 

 other purposes. Perfectly straight laths are more 

 readily made from it than from any other wood, and 

 they are so hard and durable as to serve for fish- weirs, 

 corals for turtles, and for harpoons. The air-roots are 

 covered with tubercular prickles, and are used by some 

 Indians to grate their mandiocca. 



This species grows in swamps or marshy ground in 

 the virgin forest, not in the tide-flooded lands on the 

 river banks. 



Young plants may be seen in the great Palrn House 

 at Kew. 



A fruit is represented on Plate III. fig. 5. of the 

 natural size. 



