68 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



ually supply the wants of their existence, furnishing 

 besides bread, oil, wine, also clothing and the common 

 tools and materials for building. Moreover, the palm 

 is a holy tree to many races : to the Mohammedans 

 the date palm is sacred as the fruit which Adam was 

 permitted to bring with him out of Eden by the 

 Christian all palms are revered as having furnished 

 the leaves which were strewn in the path of the 

 Messiah. 



In their form,- aspect and structure, these plants 

 differ essentially from, those of our country. A single 

 stem, straight and slender, rises to a height of 45, 60, 

 or even 75 feet, perfectly bare, unbroken by a single 

 branch or leaf. At the top only an immense plume 

 of feathery leaves, growing in a bunch, forms, so to 

 speak, the capital of the vegetable column. This 

 tuft may be from nine to twelve feet long, and at the 

 roots of its long leaves appear the fruits of the palm- 

 tree. This short description applies especially to the 

 date palm, well known as the " prince of palms," and 

 hence as the prince of all plants. 



Originally a native of Arabia and Northern Africa, 

 the date palm is pre-eminently the tree of the desert, 

 where it grows in nearly every oasis, and by its re- 

 freshing shade, its fruits, its milk, and its general use- 

 fulness, has won the affection of the natives and the 

 admiring sympathy of all travellers. 



The date, says Mr. Ch. Martins, is the true friend 

 of the desert ; there alone it ripens its fruit ; and with- 

 out it the Sahara would be uninhabitable. Arabic 

 poetry loves to praise it as a living being created by 



