OF THE PAUIS. 13 



will, in some unaccountable manner, get a firm 

 seat upon their summit, and tlience drop down 

 its outlandish roots, and leaves, and marvellous 

 flowers, in rich profusion ; or some of the wild 

 Avood creepers wiU clasp round them, and tie 

 them as it were to the earth, something like to 

 the cordage of a ship's mast. Occasionally 

 man himself makes a similar use of them, and 

 trains up their stems the plants he has pressed 

 into his service. The common black pepper 

 vine and the betel plant are thus trained up the 

 trunk of the Areca catechu. 



Next to the stems, the foliage of the palms 

 claims our attention ; it is one of their most 

 wonderful characteristics. The size of the 

 leaves is as gigantic as their form is elegant ; 

 ten, fifteen, or twenty feet is by no means an 

 uncommon length for palm leaves to attain. 

 Those of the talipat palm, which is found abun- 

 dantly in the island of Ceylon, are frequently 

 upwards of eleven feet long and sixteen feet 

 broad, and have been used to cover the entire 

 freight and crew of a boat, fifteen or twenty 

 men finding a complete shelter imder this 

 colossal leaf. In the form of the leaves, there 

 is much sameness. Those of the great majority 

 of the tribe may be classed under two forms, 

 either feathered, (jnnnate,) that is, having a long 



