110 Natural History of the Coco-vut Tree 



stand the scieJice of pxtlnguishbig Jires^ the more effectual 

 will their endeavours be in every case. 



Though in this. essay I have taken no notice of cases of 

 spontaneous ignition, the principles recommended are equally 

 applicable to these as to <>ther cases of fire. Eveji when the 

 exciting cause of the combustion may be in the cargo itself, 

 it cannot be ni;iiatained without the access of atmospheric 

 air. 



XVI. Memoir on the Natural History of the Coco-nut Tree 

 and the Areca-nut Tree ; the Cultivation of them accord- 

 ing to the Methods of the Hindoos; their Productions^ 

 and their Utility in the Arts and for the Purposes of do- 

 mestic Economy . By M. Le Goux de Flaix, an Officer 

 if Engineers, and Member of the Asiatic Society at Cal- 

 cutta. 



[Concluded fiom p. 80.] 



i HE areca-tree is that beautiful palm which Linnaeus has so 

 judiciously characterized by giving it the name oi cateclm, 

 because its ligneous nut furnishes cachou by means of aa 

 easy preparation. This fact, though contradicted by a 

 great number of authors, is no less certain ; and I propose 

 to prove it in the course of this paper. 



This tree is called pakmarou in almost all the languages 

 of the peninsula ; in the Hindostanee, the modern idiom of 

 that antient country, it is denominated soi/pari, which sig- 

 nifies the areca-tree. 



Though this palm is not so extensively useful in all its 

 parts as the coco-nut tree, it is no less necessary to the 

 Hindoos and the inhabitants of that vast part of the world 

 called the East Indies, who ail employ themselves in the 

 cultivation of it. 



The areca-tree, without having the beauty and port of 

 the coco-nut tree, is of an elegant and agreeable form. It 

 alwavs rises vertically, and nothing is able to derange its 

 direction. It is attacked by no insects : they are all kept 

 at a distance bv the sourness of its juice and of its gum. 

 Jti stem is somewhat thicker in the nnddle, but slender, 

 smooth, and perfectly well proportioned in all its parts. 



hi fuliacre presents an agreeable spectacle by the regulaf 

 arrano-cment of its palms, which aic known in botany by 

 the name of spadix, to characterize their form, and in ge- 

 neral that of the branches of thi^ famih/. The palms in 



the 



1 



