Chap. VI.] 



THE PALMYRA PALil. 



519 



beautiM palmyi*a palm {Borassus flahelliformis)} It 

 retains the name Palmeira hrava^ bestowed on it by 

 the Portuguese, as if to express their appreciation of 

 its form and quahties. These vahiable trees flourish 

 in great topes and forests, that cover miles in various 

 parts of the peninsula and the adjacent islands. Their 

 broad fan-hke leaves, though inferior in dimensions 

 to those of the gigantic tahpat, are more gracefully 

 arranged round the stem, which towers to the height 

 of seventy or eighty feet, though the average is some- 

 what less. Unhke the coco-nut palm, whose softer 

 and more spongy wood bends imder the weight of its 

 crown of leaves and fruit, the timber of the palmyra 

 is compact and hard, so that the tree rises vertically 

 to its full altitude mthout a curve or deviation^, and 

 no object in vegetable nature presents an aspect of 

 greater luxuriance than this majestic pahii when laden 

 with its huge clusters of fruit, each the size of an 

 ostrich's egg, of a rich brown tint, fading into bright 

 golden at its base. It is not till the tree has attained 

 a mature aQ;e, that its leaves beoin to detach themselves 

 from tlie stem ; they ascend it from the ground to its 

 summit in spiral convolutions, envelopmg it so densely 

 as to present the closest cover for the many animals, 

 ichneumons, squirrels, and crowds of monkeys which 

 resort to it for concealment. In these hiding places, 

 the latter defy aU the arts of the sportsman, unless 



^ The fullest and most accm-ate 

 account which I have seen of the 

 physiology, culture, and uses of the 

 palmyra is contained in a Mono- 

 graph by Mr. FEKGUSOif, of the Sur- 

 yeyor-General's Department in Cey- 

 lon, entitled The rdlnv/ra Palm and 

 its Products. Colombo, 1850. 



2 In some exceedingly rare in- 

 stances, the palm^Ta, like the doom 

 palm of India, is found in Ceylon, 

 with a double crown, the ti-unk 

 haying separated into seyeral distinct 



branches at a considerable height 

 from the ground. Forbes, in his 

 Oriental Memoirs, yol. ii. ch. yii. 

 p. 201, mentions one of these tiift- 

 hoadod palmp-as at Amhedabad, 

 which was looked on as a yeiy 

 uncommon yariet}', and a *' gi'eat 

 curiosity." So many palmjTas on 

 Dill Island, at the southern ex- 

 tremity of Guzerat, and at other 

 places near Bombay, haye compound 

 heads, that it has been altonipted to 

 distinguish them as the B. dichotomns. 



I. L 4 



