108 THE PALMS OF ASIA. 



it is then sifted to separate them ; the meal is 

 then fit for use. The only further preparation 

 ■which this meal undergoes is the boiUng it into 

 a thick gruel, or ccwji. It seems to possess less 

 nutriment than common sngo, and is less 

 palatable when boiled, but it has saved many 

 lives in time of scarcity. 



Coi'ypha talUcra is another of the palms of 

 the East Indies. It is called tara, or talliera, by 

 the natives of Bengal, where it is abundant. 

 It is an elegant and stately species, with a trunk 

 about thirty feet high, and as nearly as possible 

 of equal thickness throughout. Its gigantic 

 fan-shaped leaves are each composed of eighty 

 leaflets, each of which is six feet long and four 

 inches broad ; and the leaf stalk, from the point 

 of which they radiate, is from five to ten feet 

 long, and fringed at its edge with strong sharp 

 thorns. The flowers burst from the spathe in 

 the month of February, and rise from the apex 

 of the stem and the centre of the leaves in an 

 immense, spreading, oval bunch, or panicle, 

 twenty or more feet in height. The fruit is 

 about the size of a crab apple, wrinkled, dark 

 olive or greenish yellow. The leaves are used 

 by the natives of India to write upon with their 

 steel styles, and for other purposes. 



Corijplia wnhnmdifera is another species of 



