84 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



(Corypha conifera), to which Humboldt gave the 

 name of the Tree of Life. It is one of these trees, 

 says M. Denis in his work upon Brazil, which 

 provide for all the wants of a village in the midst 

 of a desert. Owing to the hardness of its wood 

 and the manner in which its foliage is arranged, a 

 commodious cabin can be constructed by the aid of 

 two or three carnahuba, without employing any other 

 material than a little mud to plaster the walls. The 

 leaves are used in the manufacture of countless arti- 

 cles, mats, hats, ladders, baskets, and, in addition to all, 

 serve as food for cattle. In times of great drought 

 even the pith of the young wood can be given to 

 cattle and they subsist upon it till better fodder can 

 be had. Arrived at its full growth a nutritious starch 

 is obtained from the tree, the far-famed farina of our 

 day. Its fruit is pleasant, and would suit everybody, 

 at least as long as it is not fully ripe. But the main 

 production of the carnahuba, which gives it a special 

 place in vegetable economy, is the wax which appears 

 in the axes of the young leaves in the shape of a glu- 

 tinous powder or larger fragments of irregular shape. 

 This powder, obtained by the use of fire, assumes 

 gradually the consistency and odor of wax. Small ta- 

 pers are made of it in the countries where it is grown, 

 and large quantities exported to Europe, to be mixed 

 with tallow and manufactured into candles. This tree 

 furnishes, moreover, beautifully mottled or clouded 

 canes, which take a high polish and are eagerly sought 

 after in commerce. Another wax palm (Ceroxylon an- 

 dicola\ growing on the highest table-lands of the Andes 



