TREES OF AMERICA. 107 



SO many other woods that are more durable, 

 that very Httle use is made of the sycamore, 

 and it is chiefly cultivated for the beauty of its 

 appearance ; the foliage is very rich, and 

 abundant, and the leaves are not as much 

 devoured by caterpillars as those of most of 

 the ornamental trees, and for this reason it 

 is much esteemed in Europe, for parks and 

 gardens. The Indians make their largest 

 canoes of the trunks, and I have read of one 

 that was seen some years ago, on one of the 

 Western rivers, that was sixty-five feet long, 

 and carried nine thousand pounds weight of 

 cargo, made from a single tree. 



" I have three or four trees yet to tell you 

 of that do not belong to classes, but stand 

 alone by themselves, and are besides of but 

 little use in commerce or manufactures : and 

 when we have done with these, we shall take 

 up those of greater utility. And, first, there is 

 the papaw." 



" The papaw, Uncle Philip ! does that grow 

 in this country ? I have read of it in Robinson 

 Crusoe, and in some other books ; and I thought 

 it was found in the West Indies, and in South 

 America, and other places a long way off*." 



" So it is, my dear ; but it grows in this 



