THE PALJTS OF ASIA. 147 



When tlie wind is moderately strong, the huge 

 leaves of this giant palm are clashed together 

 ■with an astonishing noise. The leaves are of 

 large size : when young they are more than 

 fifteen feet long, and Avith a leaf stalk at least as 

 much more ; but uhen full grown, the leaf 

 stalk is not more than eight or ten feet long, 

 and the leaf is about twenty feet in length by 

 ten or twelve in breadth ; it is entirely destitute 

 of thorns. The nascent leaves are enveloped 

 till the period of their expansion by a thick 

 covering of cottony down, of a nankeen colour ; 

 but this is occasionally wanting. This down 

 is used for stuffing pillows and mattresses. 

 The tree produces but one leaf in a year, 

 according to the unanimous testimony of the 

 inhabitants ; and as the trunk only increases 

 in height eight inches for every three leaves 

 that it puts forth, and as twenty years expire 

 before the stem appears above the surface of 

 the ground, a tree of eighty feet in height must 

 be about four hundred years old. The flowers, 

 which are about twenty in number, succeed 

 each other one at a time ; occasionally there 

 are two together. The nuts are two-lobed, and 

 sometimes two nuts are inclosed in one husk ; 

 three-lobed nuts are very rare, but some are 

 met with, and it is said that specimens with five 



