General j\*otices. 427 



fibres and the pith together, leavinj^ a part at each end uncut; so that 

 when completely excavated, it forms a trouch, into which a portion of 

 the pulp is i-eturned mixed with water, and beaten with a spatula or 

 piece of wood. The fibres l»eing thus separated from the pulp, float at 

 the top, and the flower or farinaceous powder subsides. After being 

 cleared ia this manner, !)y several waters, the flour is put into cylindri- 

 cal baskets made of the leaves of the tree. One tree will produce from 

 tico to four hundred loeii^ht of flour. We seldom or never see sai^o, in 

 Euroj)e, but in its granulated state; to bring it into which, the flour is 

 moistened and passed through a sieve into a very shallow iron pot, held 

 over a fire; and this enables it to assume the granular form. In fact, 

 all our grained sago is half-baked, and consequently keeps a long time; 

 but the pulp or flour of which it is made, if exposed to the air, soon 

 becomes sour. (Hort. Jour.) 



Gamboge. — This is a resinous gummy juice, of an intensely yellow 

 color, which is extracted, drop by drop, on incision, from a thorny shrub 

 of the genus tnangostan, which grows in Cambodia, Siam, and China; 

 rising very hiifh, and twining round other tr^es like the ivy. The best 

 gamboge is hard, brittle, high colored, inflammable, of a sweetish taste 

 and peculiar flavor, and soluble both in spirits and water: it is used me- 

 dicinallv, as a purgative; and, Ijy painters in water-colors, as a very 

 briUiaut pigment resembling gold. That which is imported into this 

 country comes principally from the village of Sigan, in the province of 

 Rianssi, in China, but many prefer the gamboge of Siam. The man- 

 gostan, a fine fruit of Java, about the size of a small orange, exudes a 

 yellow gum from its succuleut rind, in w^et Aveather, which is a variety 

 of the gamboge. (Id.) 



The Jasmine.— Several of the poets who have celebrated this charm- 

 ing flower allude to the custom which ])revails in some countries of 

 brides wearing jasmine flowers in their hair. The origin of the custom 

 is said to have been, that a Grand Duke of Tuscany had, in 1699, a plant 

 of the deliciously scented jasmine of Goa (Jasminum odoratissimum,) 

 which he was so careful of that he would not suffer it to be propagated. 

 His gardener, however, being in love with a peasant girl in the neigh- 

 borhood, gave her a sprig of this choice plant on her birth-day; which 

 she planted as a memorial of his affection. It grew rapidly, and every 

 one who saw it admired its beauty and sweetness, and wished to have a 

 plant of it. The girl supplied each comer with cuttings, at so hand- 

 some a price as soon to obtain money sufficient to enable her to marry 

 her lover. The young girls of Tuscany, in remembrance of this event, 

 always deck themselves, on their wedding days, with chaplets of jas- 

 mine; and they have a proverb saying that She icho is worthy to wear 

 acroxon of jasmine, brings a fortune to her husband. (Id.) 



Extraordinary Dragon's-blood Tree. — In the city of Oratava, in the 

 island of TenerilTe, there flourishes, in the garden of Mons. Franchi, 

 the most beautiful and interesting dragon's-blood tree in all the Canary 

 Isles, and, perhaps, throughout the globe. It is sixty feet in height; 

 thirty-nine in circumference, in the middle part; and seventj-two at the 

 base. At the height of eighteen feet, the trunk divides into twelve 

 limbs or branches, between which a dining table has been constructed, 

 at which fourteen guests have often sat, and been entertained with ease 

 and comfort. This surprising tree existed in almost its present state 

 three hundred years ago, at the time of the conquest of Tenerift'e by 

 the Spaniards; and when they destroyed the forests of this part of the 

 island, in order to construct their haliitations, they respected this mag- 

 nificent dragon's-blood tree. The most ancient title-deeds of the city 

 mention it as a boundary and fixed point of admeasurement, both for 

 houses and land. It possesses at the present day really a very beautiful 



