208 



ARECA PALMS. 



like a lady's fan and thus this apparently fragile tree 

 is enabled to withstand the deadly effects of very severe 

 storms; though in cyclones of great intensity much 

 damage is, of course, sometimes done to trees of every 

 description, as well as to the most solidly built houses. 



Another beautiful example of a very tall, slender 

 trunk hardly larger than a bamboo, which may be 

 seen bearing aloft its graceful feathery crown in safety, 

 even in very heavy gales, is the Areca Palm (Areca 

 Catechu]. These trees, which are common in the low- 

 lands of Ceylon, form most picturesque objects when 

 seen upon the edges of patches of jungle, where their 

 great height and slender form cannot fail to catch the 

 eye of the passing traveller. They seem to do best 

 in somewhat swampy localities, and the nuts yield 

 several valuable products, among others the " Betel 

 Nut," which is so much used in conjunction with 

 Betel leaf for chewing by natives of oriental countries, 

 and which stains their teeth and saliva like blood.* 



There is in fact hardly one of the palm tribe, that 

 does not possess some special feature, either of beauty 

 or utility, which would entitle it to a detailed de- 

 scription, had we time and space to devote to it; but 

 while we must endeavour to be as brief as possible, 

 we must find room for a few words respecting the 

 gigantic size of some palm leaves, those, for instance, 

 of the " Manicaria Saccifera " of Para are stated to be 

 " thirty feet long, and four or five feet wide, not pinnate 

 but entire and very rigid. Some of the pinnate leaves are 

 much longer, those oftheRapht'a Tadigera zm&Maximiliana 



* The Betel leaf used with this nut must not be confounded with 

 the former, as this leaf is the produce of quite another plant, viz., " Piper 

 Betel" or the Betel Pepper Vine, a species of liana. 



