Atf EXCURSION. 1 5 



farinifer which is another kind of 

 date palm, is a native of dry, barren, and sandy tracts on 

 the east coast of Southern India. Its trunk yields a 

 sago-like substance which is largely consumed by the 

 poorer classes of the people during scarcity or famine. 



The Arabian date palm Of this, there were 

 several varieties from Persia, Egypt, Bussorah, and the 

 Persian Gulf. When carefully cultivated the Arabian date 

 palm thrives in the climate and soil of India, especially 

 in its drier regions. In countries where this species is 

 largely cultivated, the method adopted for impregnating 

 the female flower consists in making a slit in the 

 spathe a little before it would burst naturally, thrusting 

 into it a branch, or a part of the male spadix, and 

 lightly tying them up with a string. The sweet date of 

 commerce is a product of this palm. 



The Hental palm. A long row of hental (Phoenix 

 paludosd) fringed the western border of the palmetum. It 

 grows luxuriantly in the impenetrable thickets of the 

 Sunderbuns, where, regardless of the tiger, the rhinoceros, 

 and the deadly snakes which infest the jungles, the wood- 

 cutters penetrate, and collect loads of the smaller trunks 

 of this palm, which are made into walking sticks. 

 Tradition declares that snakes get out of the way of 

 persons carrying hental sticks. 



A SYLVAN BREAKFAST. 



It was now breakfast time, and as the sun had mount- 

 ed high and shone glaringly from a cloudless sky, we were 



