THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 97 



furnish the food of almost all the races that live in 

 the Torrid Zone. As the farinaceous cereals have been 

 an unfailing resource to the inhabitants of the North, 

 the banana has never disappointed the nations that 

 dwell near the equator. According to Semitic tradi- 

 tions, this productive plant was first found upon the 

 banks of the Euphrates ; according to others it first 

 grew in India, on the skirts of the Himalaya. Greek 

 legends state that cereals first grew on the fields of 

 Enna, in Sicily. But the fruits of Ceres, extended by 

 cultivation to all the northern countries, present only 

 monotonous fields, which add little to the picturesque 

 charm of the landscape, while, on the other hand, the 

 inhabitant of the tropics, who multiplies his banana- 

 plantations, propagates one of the most beautiful and 

 majestic forms of the vegetable kingdom. 



BAMBOOS. 



There is no tree known on earth which subserves 

 so many purposes as the bamboo. The Indian ob- 

 tains from it part of his food, many of his household 

 utensils, and a wood at once lighter and capable of 

 bearing greater strains than heavier timber of ' the 

 same size. Besides, in expeditions in the tropics under 

 the rays of a vertical sun, bamboo trunks have more 

 than once been used as barrels, in which a water, 

 much purer than could be preserved in vessels of any 

 other kind, is kept fresh for the crew. Upon the 

 west coast of South America, and in the large islands 

 of Asia, bamboos furnish all the materials for the con- 

 struction of houses at once pleasant, substantial, and 



