208 RExMARKS ON THE ALOE. 



we should be inclined to think that the utility of the Aloe far sur- 

 passed its beauty, and to rank it, as a vegetable, with the camel and 

 the elephant in animal life. Like the larger animals, it is confined 

 to hot, or comparatively uncivilized countries. Its appearance, which 

 resembles a collection of huge leathern claws, armed with prickles, 

 is very formidable ; and even the smaller species have a sort of mon- 

 strosity of size in their parts, though small as a whole. But notwith- 

 standing the extraordinary utility of the Aloe, those who have seen it 

 in its native country, and in full flower, describe it as scarcely less 

 remarkable for elegance and beauty. The larger and more useful 

 kinds appear to be also the most beautiful. Rousseau uses the epi- 

 thet beautiful in speaking of the great American Aloe, or Agave. 



" Nature seems to have treated the Africans and Asiatics as barba- 

 rians," says St. Pierre, in speaking of the Aloe, " in having given 

 them these at once magnificent, yet monstrous vegetables ; and to 

 have dealt with us as beings capable of sensibility and society. Oh, 

 when shall I breathe the perfume of the honeysuckle?— again repose 

 myself upon a carpet of milk-weed, saffron, and blue-bells, the food 

 of our lowing herds ? and once more hear Aurora welcomed with the 

 songs of the labourer, blessed with freedom and content? " 



The kind chiefly used in medicine is the Barbadoes Aloe, the pre- 

 parations from which are eminent for the nauseousness of their bitter. 

 " As bitter as aloes" is a proverbial phrase. 



The most remarkable of the Aloe tribe is the great American Aloe, 

 named by botanists Agave, which name is derived from the Greek, 

 and signifies admirable or glorious ; called by the French aloe en 

 arbre (tree Aloe), and also pitte. The natural order in which it 

 should be arranged is uncertain. Bernard Jussieu placed it with the 

 Narcissi, and Anthony Jussieu with the Bromeliaceae. It is a native 

 of all the southern parts of America. The stem generally rises up- 

 wards of twenty feet high, and branches out on every side towards 

 the top, so as to form a kind of pyramid. The slender shoots are 

 garnished with greenish-yellow flowers, which come out in thick 

 clusters at every joint, and continue long in beauty ; a succession of 

 new flowers being produced for near three months in favourable sea- 

 sons, if the plant is protected from the autumnal cold. The elegance 

 of the flower, and the rarity of its appearance in our cold climate, 

 render it an object of such general curiosity that the gardener who 



