THE CABBAGE PALM. 93 



There are in and near Xassau a few African palms which are 

 much admired. They are tall, stately, branchless and truly royal 

 trees, pre-eminently graceful and beautiful. The stem of this 

 palm is very delicately moulded, of small diameter, enlarging at 

 or near the center, and gradually tapering each way, presenting 

 a novel and pleasing outline. Its long, feather-shaped, curved 

 and drooping leaves stretch out from its top on all sides, a chap- 

 let, light, airy and so exceedingly attractive that we never ceased 

 to look at it but with regret. While strongly resembling the 

 cocoanut palm, this tree appeared to expend less of its vital ener- 

 gies in the production of fruit, and more in the develoj^ment of 

 a higher type of beauty. The palms, esthetically considered, 

 rank high among the trees of the forest, and in the perfection 

 of grace and comeliness the African palm surpasses them all. 



In this connection, the cabbage palm is entitled to a passing 

 notice. In some more favorable localities it is said to attain a 

 height of one hundred and twenty feet — nearly twice that of any 

 we saw in the Bahamas. As if animated by a noble ambition, 

 it wastes none of its energies upon ''side issues," but, pushing 

 its branchless stem up boldly towards the heavens, it towers 

 above its less successful rivals, and in the bright, warm sunlight 

 of the upper air matures those long, droopiug, graceful and 

 feathery leaves Avhich reveal, even to the casual and distant ob- 

 server, the noble family to which it belongs. Young, tender 

 and succulent leaves, at the base of those which are fully devel- 

 oped, are formed and compacted into a light-colored head, which 

 is eaten as a salad. It is also cooked and prepared for the table 

 like the cabbage — hence its name. 



Mr. Kingsley in his ''At Last," gives the following descrip- 

 tion of some cabbage palm trees which he saw in tlie West Indies. 

 *' We stopped at a manager's, with a palmiste [oreodoxa olera- 

 cea) or cabbage palm on each side of the garden gate — a pair of 



