MAIZE. SAGO. COCOA-NUT. 219 



weigh about thirty pounds, and is used as food, but 

 not so generally as the bread-fruit. 



The maize, or Indian corn, Ze'a Ma'ys, Monoe- 

 cia Triandria, is a very useful plant. It is a native 

 of America, and is cultivated in several other 

 countries. The seeds grow in ears, which are very 

 large, each of them bearing about eight rows of 

 grain; and every row contains at least thirty grains, 

 which give much more flour than those of wheat, 

 or any of our kinds of corn. The stalk of the 

 maize is jointed, like the sugar-cane and bamboo, 

 and it contains a juice from which a syrup, like 

 that of sugar, is often made. 



The Sago Palm, Sa'gus Rum'phii, from the pith 

 of which the substance called Sago is prepared, 

 and the Cocoa-nut-tree, Co'cos nucif era, were 

 originally natives of the East Indies ; but they have 

 been introduced into several other warm countries. 

 The cocoa-nut thrives remarkably well on the sea- 

 shore ; indeed, the neighbourhood of the sea ap- 

 pears to be almost necessary to its growth: and the 

 celebrated traveller Humboldt, mentions, that on 

 the banks of the river Oronoco, when the nut is 

 planted, a quantity of salt is thrown into the hole 

 along with it. The tree grows to the height of 

 sixty feet, and has a fine appearance ; the top of 

 the stem being crowned with about fifty leaves, 

 which are from ten to fifteen feet long, with nuts 

 nearly as large as a man's head hanging from it, 



