THE PALM TREE. 131 
some species adapted to these varied purposes, which 
in temperate zones are generally supplied by a very 
different class of plants. The Chip, or Brazilian- 
grass hats, so cheap in this country, are made from 
the leaves of a palm tree which grows in Cuba, 
whence they are imported for the purpose. 
“The papyrus of the ancient Egyptians, and the 
metallic plates on which other nations wrote, were not 
used in India, but their place was supplied by the 
leaves of palms, on whose hard and glossy surface the 
characters were inscribed with a metallic point. These 
leaves, when strung together, form the volumes of a 
Hindoo library. 
“ We have now glanced at a few of the most im- 
portant uses to which Palms are applied, but in order 
to be able to appreciate how much the native tribes 
of the countries where they most abound, are de- 
pendent on this noble family of plants, and how they 
take part in some form or other in almost every action 
of the Indian’s life, we must enter into his hut and 
inquire into the origin and structure of the various 
articles we shall see around us. 
‘Suppose then we visit an Indian cottage on the 
banks of the Rio Negro, a great tributary of the 
river Amazon, in South America. The main sup- 
ports of the building are trunks of some forest tree 
of heavy and durable wood, but the light rafters over 
head are formed by the straight cylindrical and 
uniform stems of the Jar4 palm. The roof is thatched 
with large triangular leaves, neatly arranged in 
regular alternate rows, and bound to the rafters with 
