GIANTS. 357 



■worthy of notice here. We may have the pinnate, 

 or feathery leaf, similar to an ordinary fern frond, 

 and the fan-shaped leaf Of the former, the Jupati, 

 one of the Brazilian palms {Raphia fccdigera), Wallace 

 says, " Its comparatively short stem enables us to 

 fully appreciate the enormous size of the leaves, 

 which are at the same time equally remarkable for 

 their elegant form. They rise nearly vertically from 

 the stem, and bend out on every side in graceful 

 curves, forming a magnificent plume seventy feet in 

 height, and forty in diameter. I have cut down and 

 measured leaves forty-eight and fifty feet long, but 

 could never get the largest." ^ Of another palm he 

 writes {Maximiliana regid) : " The leaves of this tree 

 are truly gigantic. I have measured specimens which 

 have been cut by the Indians fifty feet long; and 

 these did not contain the entire petiole, nor were they 

 of the largest size." - Of the fan palms the most 

 magnificent are the leaves of the Talipat palm 

 \Corypha umbraciiliferd) of Ceylon, which are used 

 as umbrellas and for tents, a large one being suf- 

 iicient to cover and protect fifteen persons from the 

 sun and rain. In making tents two or three leaves 

 are usually sewn together. 



Periodically the botanical world has been as- 

 tonished by the report of some newly-discovered 



1 Wallace, " Palms of the Amazon," p. 43. ^ Jbid., p. 121. 



