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conjectured to belong to some submarine tree, as it 

 was frequently met with, floating at sea. Fabulous 

 virtues were ascribed to it ; amongst others that at- 

 tributed to cups made of the horn of the Rhinoceros ; 

 the neutralization or detection of poison contained in 

 any liquid poured into it. Immense prices have been 

 given for the fruit, and even at the present day they 

 sell at about ten times the rate they fetched a few 

 years ago, the Persians and Indians fancying that the 

 kernel contains a certain restorative power particu- 

 larly sought for in countries where polygamy prevails. 

 When the Seychelles Islands were discovered, the 

 facts of their growth came to light ; but it is only 

 within a comparatively short period that an accurate 

 description of the growth and habits of the plant has 

 been given to the world ; and this was due to the 

 literary and scientific Institution (a) of Sechelles, and 

 was drawn up by the late P. Bernard M.D., at that time 

 Government Medical Officer of those Islands. This 

 account was published in the Transactions of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society, but as that work is not very generally 

 circulated, a short notice of the plant may be interest- 

 ing to such of our readers as have not read the account 

 alluded to. This plant is not only peculiar to the 

 Seychelles Islands, (&) but is indigenous only in three 



(a) This Institution no longer exists virtually as such at 

 present. 



(h) The Seychelles Archipelago, or the Mah6 Archipelago 

 properly so called, consist of thirty four islands j and islets lying 

 nearly in the same degrees of latitude and, longitude. 



