THE PALM TREE. 127 
or footstalks, and a constant succession is produced 
from the centre of this tuft, to supply the place of 
the lower ones, as they decay and fall off. 
The flowers, which singly are small and inconspi- 
cuous, generally appear in such dense clusters as to 
render them peculiarly striking, especially when 
newly opened, as they often emit a very powerful 
odor. 
The Palm trees are as essential to the comfort of 
the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow, 
as our most useful trees are to us. To the Wander- 
ing Arab they afford both food and shelter; and, as 
he sits beneath its refreshing shade, and listens to 
the tales of luxury and ease enjoyed by the nations 
of the civilized world, when he is told that they have 
no Date trees, he turns with a contented heart to the 
barren sands of his own dear desert, probably won- 
dering how they endure the privation. 
Perhaps we cannot better illustrate our subject 
than by quoting a few pages from an interesting 
work entitled, “The Palm Trees of the Amazon, and 
their Uses,” by Alfred Russel Wallace, who, while 
on a recent tour of discovery to the tropical parts of 
South America, was so struck with the beauty and 
grandeur of these noble trees, that he was induced 
to make many close and interesting observations on 
their habits and uses. 
“The materials for this work were collected during 
my travels on the Amazon and its tributaries, from 
1848 to 1852. Though principally occupied with 
the varied and interesting animal productions of the 
