10 TUE PUYSIOGNOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 



majestic stems highest find proudest of all. 

 Many of them, at a distance, by reason of their 

 long perpendicular shafts, have the appearance 

 of columns, erected by the Divine architect, bear- 

 ing up the broad arch of heaven above them, 

 crowned Avith a capital of gorgeous green 

 foliage." And Humboldt speaks of them as 

 " the loftiest and stateliest of all vegetable 

 forms." To these, above all other trees, the prize 

 of beauty has always been awarded by every 

 nation, and it was from the Asiatic palm-world, 

 or the adjacent countries, that human civiliza- 

 tion sent forth the first rays of its early dawn. 



The aspect of the palm tribe (although there 

 prevails a considerable " family likeness") is 

 extremely varied ; yet grandeur is their chief 

 characteristic, whether taken individually or 

 collectively. They diflcr much in height, some 

 not exceeding a few feet, (as the dwarf palm of 

 Spain, Chamct;rops humilis;) while others, such 

 as the wax palm of the Andes, (ceroxylon,) rear 

 their lofty trunks to an elevation nearly, if not 

 quite equal to that of the Monument in London, 

 Avhile their summits are decorated with a right 

 regal crown of the most graceful foliage. The 

 rattan palms {calaini) again are thin, elegant, 

 rope-like trees of enormous length, though their 

 dimensions are not so apparent in consequence 



