THE PALM TREE. 129 
able fruit, and its fibrous husks supply us with mat- 
ting, coir ropes, and stuffing for mattresses; but in 
its native country it serves a hundred purposes ; food, 
and drink, and oil are obtained from its fruit; hats 
and baskets are made of its fibre, huts are covered 
with its leaves, and its leaf-stalks are applied to a 
variety of uses. To us the Date is but an agreeable 
fruit, but to the Arab it is the very staff of life ; men 
and camels almost live upon it, and on the abundance 
of the date harvest depends the wealth and almost 
the existence of many desert tribes. It is truly in- 
digenous to those inhospitable wastes of burning 
sands, which without it would be uninhabitable by 
man. 
‘‘ A Palm tree of Africa, gives us oil and candles. 
It inhabits those parts of the country where the 
slave-trade is carried on, and it is thought by persons 
best acquainted with the subject, that the extension 
of the trade in palm oil will be the most effectual 
check to that inhuman traffic; so that a Palm tree 
may be the means of spreading the blessings of 
civilization and humanity among the persecuted negro 
race. 
“Sago is another product of a Palm, which is of 
comparatively little importance to us, but in the Hast 
supplies the daily food of thousands. In many parts 
of the Indian Archipelago, it forms almost the entire 
subsistence of the people, taking the place of rice in 
Asia, corn in Europe, and maize and mandioca in 
America, and is worthy to be classed with these the 
most precious gifts of Nature to mankind. Unlike 
I 
