OF THE PALMS. 17 



male flowers of the date palm contains about 

 twelve thousand separate flowers ; while an- 

 other (the seje palm) has been estimated to bear 

 above two hundred thousand in eacli cluster, 

 and three times that amount on each individual 

 plant. 



The form and colour of the frvtit of this tribe 

 pi'csent moi'e variety than is generally supposed 

 to be the case in Europe. Mauritia flexuosa 

 has egg-shaped fruits, whose smooth, brown, 

 and scaly surface gives them the appearance of 

 young pine cones. How great is the difference 

 between the large triangular cocoa-nut, the 

 strange-looking double fruit of the coco de mar, 

 the hard nut of the vegetable ivory, the berry 

 of the date, and the small stone fruit of the 

 corozo ! But of all the fruits of the palm, none 

 can be compared for beauty with those of the 

 pirijao of San Fernando and San Balthasar. 

 They are oval, and of a golden colour, (one 

 half being of a purplish red,) are mealy, with- 

 out seed, two or three inches in thickness, and 

 hang, like grapes, in rich clusters of seventy 

 or eighty together, from the summits of their 

 majestic palm trunks. The vast mass of fruits 

 borne by single trees is very remarkable. The 

 date palm commonly produces seventy to a 

 hundred pounds of fruit, and sometimes twice 



