be 
~ the very heavens. 
NATURAL 
They diffesed, 
as they burnt, a very agreeable 
perfume. He farther remarks, that 
the best agaricum grows upon the 
larch, and that the arquebusires of 
his time made use of it for keeping 
up fire, and for making matches. 
Thus, nature, in crowning the 
summit of cold and ferruginous 
mountains with those vast vege- 
table torches, has placed the match 
in their branches, the tinder at 
their foot, and the steel at their 
roots, 
To the south, on the contrary, 
trees present, in their foliage, fans, 
umbrellas, parasols. The latanier 
carries each of its leaves plaited as 
a fan, attached to a long tail, and 
similar, when completely displayed, 
to a radiating sunof verdure. ‘Two 
of those trees are to be scen in the 
royal-garden,. The leaf of the ba- 
nana resembies a long and bread 
girdle, which, undoubtedly, pro- 
cured for it the name of Adam’s 
“fz-tree. The magnitude of the 
-ves of several species of trees 
teases in proportion as we ap. 
ach the Line. That of the co- 
i-tree, with double fruit of the 
thelles Islands, is from twelve to 
« en feet long, and from seven 
_ eight broad. A single one is suf- 
ficient to cover a numerous family. 
One of these leaves is, likewise, to 
be seen in the Royal Cabinet of 
Natural History. ‘That of-the ta. 
lipot of the Island of Ceylon is of 
nearly the same size.- 
The interesting and unfortunate 
Robert Knox, wio has given the 
best account of Ceylon which I am 
acquainted with, tells us, that one 
of the leaves of the talipot is ca- 
pable of covering from fifteen to 
twenty perons. When it is dry, 
continues he, it is at once strong 
HISTORY. [397 
and pliant, so that “you. may. fold 
and unfold it at pleasure, being 
naturally plaited, like,a,fan. In 
this. siate it. is not bigger than a 
men’s arm, and extremely light, 
The natives cut it into triangles, 
though it is naturélly, round, and 
each of them carries one of those 
sections over his head, holding, ihe 
angular part before, in his hand, 
to open for himseif a passage 
through the bushes. . The soldiers 
employ this leaf as a covering to 
their tents, He. considers it, and 
with, good reason, as, one of the 
greatest blessings of Providence, in 
a country burnt up by the suny and 
inundated by the ‘rains, for six 
months of the year. 
Nature has provided, in those cli. 
mates, parasols for whole villages ; 
for the fig-tree, denominated, in 
India, the fig-tree of the Banians, 
a drawing of which may be seen in 
Tavernier, and in several other 
travellers, grows on the very burn. 
ing sand of the sea-shore, throwing, 
from the extremity of its branches, 
a multitude of shoots, which drop 
to the ground, there take root, and 
form, around the principal trunk, 
a great number of covered arcailes, 
whose shade is impervious 10 tie 
rays of the sun. 
In our temperate climates, we 
experience a similar benevolence 
on the part of nature. In the 
warm and thirsty seasons, she bz- 
stows upon usa variety of fruits, 
replenished with the most refresh- 
ing juices, such as cherries, peaches, 
melons ; and as winter approaches, 
those which warm and ¢om'ort by 
their cils, such as the alinoad and 
the wainug. Certain waturaiists 
have considered even the ligneous 
shells of these fruits, asa prefers 
vative against the cold of the yloo- 
my 
