PALM 



PALMA 



is baked in cakes. The Great Macaw tree of the 

 West ludii-s i .t'-nicumM *rlerur,n /< ) is a native of 

 Jamaica, Trinidad, and the adjacent island- and 

 continent. In llro/il it is calleil MiH-tikulxi. and 



in Guiana Mm-npi. The tree gmw- fr 2O to .'> 



feet high, with a crown of leaves, each of which 

 m. -.I-IIM - from 1" lo I.') fi-et in length. The fruit 

 yields an oil of \cllow colour, sweetish tiu-lo, and 

 liaving the odour' of violets, which is employed. by 

 the natives as an emollient for painful ullections 

 of the joints ; and ill Kuro|n- it is .i-e,| in the 

 manufacture of toilet soaps. The ma- are capable 

 of receiving a high polish, and are converted by 

 the natives and the negroes into ornament*. The 

 Tucuni Palm I Antrnrni i/nni tiiriiiitn), a native of 

 the Uio N-gio and the l"p|K>r Annuon, yields a 

 very superior fibre, the cordage from which is 



knitted into h.in cks. which are in great demand 



with the Hra/ilian-. The lleshy outer covering of 

 the fruit is eaten by the natives. -The Miirumnrii 

 Palm (.1. HI n r n in a r it ) produces a very agreeable 

 fruit with the fr.'igiaiiw of musk. Cattle eat the 

 fruit with avidity, but evacuate the hard stony 

 feeds undigested. In times of scarcity these seeds 

 are carefully collected and used to feed pigs, which 

 are very foiid of them, and find no difficulty with 

 their powerful teeth and Jaws in masticating them. 

 Attiilvi fiiniffi-ii furnishes the whalebone-like 

 fibre now '.-o 'much used in Britain for making 

 brooms and brushes. The tree attains the height 

 I '.M or .In feet. At the base of the leaves 

 a valuable thick, dark-brown, very long fibre, 

 liahia bast, is obtained, sometimes 12 feet long ; 

 Para or Monkey liast, a softer, shorter kind, 



illy about 3 feet in length, is got from 

 Leojmltlina jiinxnaba (see FIBROUS SURSTAXCKS). 

 The fruit of Attalca funifera is the I'li'/nilla 

 tint, much used in turnery for the making of 

 knobs to walking sticks and umbrellas, handles to 

 U'll pulls. \-c. The nuts are extremely hard and 



ptihle of a tine polish, and exhibit a Itcauli- 

 fully mottled surface of light and dark brown. 

 The fruit of .1. i-nlinin- yields from its kernel a 

 valuable oil called r.//,/<//<- (HI, which is said to 

 I* su|icrinr in quality and to burn twice as Ion;' 

 as the best cocoa nut oil. It is a nati 

 Honduras and the Isthmus of Panama. The 

 trunk, which attains the height of alxmt 40 feet 

 and is crowned with leave- -om" ,'!o feet long, 

 \ ields by tapping a kind of palm w ine. The PII/III- 

 ml of Africa is the pnxluct of the fruit of I-'. In- it 

 ifiiiiin-iixis. The tree is cultivated now in the \Ve-t 

 Indies and tropical South America for the siike of 

 the oil. It attains a height of IXI to SO fret, with 

 a spreading crown of pinnate leaves, each alxmt l."> 

 feet long, the fooistalks of which are aimed with 

 stout hixiked -pine-. The Huwers have a strong 

 !. -iili.il -nidi, like anise and chervil in combina- 

 tion. The fruit forms a Inrge head, consisting of 

 a great niimlx-r of hi ight orange coloured drupe-; 

 when iipe each .Inns' has an oily pulp with a 

 -'.me 01 kernel in tin- centre, and it is from tin- 

 pulp that the oil i- obtained. To extract the i.il 

 the pulp i- first biiii-ed to a paste in wooden 

 mortar-, and i- then Ixiiled in water. The oil 

 which rises to the surface of the water is reddish or 

 orang" in colour, and has an agreeable odour of 

 \io|i'ts; it in allowed to cixd, and i- then skinnm-d 

 off. In warm countries il retains its nily consist- 



. but in cooler climates it acqiiiie- the solidity 

 of butter. Il i- ii-iil by the natives universally as 

 butter i- in F.ui.ipe. The quantity of palm-oil now 

 ini|iortc<! to i,i..|i Itiitain is enoimon-. It i- em 

 plovdl in the manufacture of candles, toilet and 

 common snaps, and as a lubricant of railway- 

 carriage wheels, fir. It is compo-ed of about 

 thirty-one par in and sixty-nine of olein. 



The tree yields from its trunk abundance of palm- 



wine The Coquito of Chili in Jnlxrn. sjieclabilit, a 

 tree of lx>ut M feet in height, wild a tpTMding 

 ci.iwn of leaves. From its trunk a syrup is MC- 

 t i acted, called ('</ f/i- /'itliiut, which is iniifh 

 ectoemcd l>y tin- Chilians ami Kuro|ican- in cookciy 

 in various ways. It i- obtained !>y culling down 

 tin- tree anil lapping oil" it.- crown of leave-, when 

 the -ap flows from tl><- \\oiiinl. ami is carefully 

 collected. l!y cutting oil' a frc-h slice from the 

 wimnil daily) or when tin- How of ban bccomi-* 

 weak, it may bo kept Honing for MTONU months : 

 a good tree is said to yirhl as much as ninety 

 gallons of bap, which on being boiled down assumes 

 the consistence of treacle. 



Much information on palms ami their products 

 will lie found in the Jlixliiriir I'liliinirniit, by 

 Martins; in the h'lura Itrnzilii-nxix, by Drudc; 

 and A J'o/nilar History of 1'ttims, by Seeman. 

 See AKECA, COCOA-NTT, CH AM.KKOI-S, DATE 

 PALM, DOOM PAI.M, FniKors SUBSTANCES, &c. 



Palm, a measure of length, originally taken 

 fiom the wiiltli of the hand, measured across the 

 joints of the four linger*. In Itiitain a palm is, 

 somewhat loosely, understood to be the fourth part 

 of an English loot, or 3 inches. 



Palm. JOHANN 1'HILHT, a Imoksellcr of Nurcm- 

 l>erg, who has acquired historic celebrity as a 

 victim of Napoleonic tyranny in Germany, was 

 Iwrn at Schorndorf in 1768. fn the spring of IMS 

 a pamphlet entitled Deutxrlilnml n< an mi- ii'fitrn 

 Krniearigutig (Germany in ite Dei-pest Humilia- 

 tion), which contained some bitter truths' concern- 

 ing NajHileon and the conduct of the French troops 

 in Bavaria, was sent by his firm to a bookseller in 

 Augsburg in the ordinary course of trade. The 

 liook fell into the hands of Napoleon's officers; 

 they made the emperor acquainted with it. He 

 ordered Palm, as the publisher, to l>e arn-sted, 

 tried him by court -martial, ami shot him at 

 Itraunau, 26th August ISOti. This minder greatly 

 incenseil the (ierman jK-ople ngaiiist the French. 



Palllia, (1 ) the capital of the island of Majmca 

 (i|.v.) and of the Balearic Islands, stands on tlie 

 l:.i\ of I 'alma, on the south coast. The cathedral, 

 a Gothic e<lilice ( |-j: UKI1 ), contains the tomb of 

 King.Javme II. of Aragon and a valuable collcc- 

 lion of church ornament*. The tomb of liaytnond 

 Lully (q.v.) is in the church of St Francis. 'There 

 are, further, a Iwautifiil exchange t 1 J'.'ii -l(i). an 

 old Moorish palace, and a Kith centuix tow n hall, 

 with picture*. 1'alnia is one of the most aristo- 

 ciatic cities in Kuro|>e. Pop. ( IS87) tiO,.">14. They 

 weave silks and W(M>llens, make jewellery, and 

 various articles of common use. The port is pro. 

 leried by a mole, and the town by a wall and 

 Wtteriea. The commerce reaches a total value of 

 aUuit fl.tMHi.lKK) p,-r annum. (2) A town of Sicily, 

 14 miles SK. of Girgenli. Pop. ll,702.-(3) The 

 name, of one of the larger of the Canary Islands 

 (<|.v.). 



Plllnin. ,TAn>P<>. commonly calle<l PALMA 

 VKC< tin. i. i.e. did Palnia). painter of the Venetian 

 school, was iMirn alioul 14HO at Serinalta, near 

 llcrgamo, and died nt Venice ju-t about the 

 middle of the year l.VJS. At first working under 

 the influence of the Itellinis, he sub-i-i|iieiitly 

 pninti-d in the spirit and style of Giorgione and 

 Titian, and may be placed at the head of tin: 

 -f, ,ni<l class of greut Venetian artists. His pic- 

 tures are either snrml subjects or portrait grou]>s. 

 < If the former tin- best are a series of six figures of 

 -ainls. Si Itarbiira and others, in the ehurch of St 

 Maria Formosa at Venice. The Ix'st portrait 

 group is three sisters, generally calle<l the 'Three 

 .' His brother's gramlson, likewise called 

 .l.\r<n-<i (l.'il) lias i, ami nieknameil IL GlnVANE 

 (the Younger), painted religious pictures of greatly 



