COCOA-NUT TREES IN A GALE. 207 



tirely clear of anything" that can catch the wind. Then 

 again these great leaves are borne aloft upon stalks 

 of enormous strength, but of such construction that 

 they are capable of bearing a strain of almost any 

 reasonable intensity. 



The stems of palm leaves are therefore very gener- 

 ally made use of by natives of tropical countries, as 

 " shouldersticks " for carrying loads, for they are at 

 once light, smooth, and elastic, and the very thing for 

 such a purpose; and men may frequently be seen 

 carrying home a bunch of bananas suspended to each 

 end of such a carrying stick, each of which may weigh 

 forty or fifty pounds. Large bunches may, however, 

 weigh up to seventy pounds, but of course the porter- 

 age of such heavy loads is only possible for short 

 distances. 



As for the palm tree itself, as the reader is aware, 

 the foliage is generally confined to a mere crown of 

 leaves on top of a bare pole, and after night their 

 lofty heads may be seen uplifted high above the sur- 

 rounding vegetation, spread forth in the still atmo- 

 sphere, like a gigantic plume of ostrich feathers. The 

 cocoa-nut palm (Cocos Nuciferd) may be cited as a 

 good example of this, and well-grown specimens of 

 these trees usually rise 60 or 80 feet to the crown ; 

 the diameter of the stem, which rarely exceeds about 

 a foot, being about the same size all the way up, except 

 just after issuing from the ground, where there is 

 generally a protuberance. It is quite a sight to watch 

 these beautiful trees in a heavy gale, with their strong 

 but yielding stems, bending before the fury of the blast, 

 like a well-made fishing-rod; while the crown, caught 

 underneath by the gusts, closes up together, almost 



