384 BOTANY. 



roots, or whether the latter may become peculiarly 

 elevated, I have been unable to determine; but it is 

 very usual to see this palm supported upon elevated 

 root-like props, as upon a pedestal of many feet, with 

 a vacant space of considerable height between the 

 ground and the base of its trunk. 



O 



These trees obtained in all the Polynesian islands 

 we visited, and also in Timor, Indian Archipelago. 

 Their Tahitian name is fara, their Hawaiian hala. They 

 are exceedingly hardy, affecting alike the low coral 

 formations of the Pacific, and lands raised two thousand 

 feet above the level of the ocean the arid and saline 

 sands of the sea shore, and the most interior and 

 fertile soils. 



Their dried leaves are used by most Polynesian 

 nations to thatch their huts, or for the manufacture of 

 mats, fans, and hats ; the yellow and polished drupes 

 are employed for necklaces ; and the fragrant spathes 

 of the male flowers as wreaths for the head ; the in- 

 terior and soft extremity of the drupe is chewed for 

 the sweet farinaceous matter it contains ; and the kernel 

 inclosed in the nut, and which has the flavour of a 

 walnut, is a favourite native food. The wood of the 

 mature palm is hard and ornamental, and is applied by 

 the Sandwich Islanders to several mechanical uses. 



P. Sp. The leaves of this species are long, flexible, 

 and sword-shaped, and have spines on their margins ; 

 they are arranged as a crown at the summit of a slender 

 stem, and bear in their centre a long cylindrical spadix, 

 covered with small odoriferous flowers. The plant 

 sometimes grows erect, independently of extraneous 



