CONTENTS 



,;i.;^..,,._l.'irin- thv Jungle — The Aloes-The Agave amerieana — The 

 r.n.m.lias — Tho Cactuses — The Mimosas — Bushropes — Climbing Trees — 

 l-.rnl.l.ius of Ingratitude— Marriage of the Fig Tree and the Pahn— Epiphytes— 

 Water-Plants — Singularly-shaped Trees- The Barrigudo— The Bottle Tree — 

 Trees with Buttresses, fantastical Koots, and formidable Spines • . Page 101 



CHAPTER Xn. 



PALMS. 



The Cocoa-nut Tree — Its hundred Uses — Cocoa-nut Oil — Coir — Porcupine 

 Wood — Enemies of the Cocoa Palm — The Sago Palm — The Saguer — 

 The Guraatty — The Areca Palm — The Palmyra Palm — The Talipot — The 

 Cocoa de Mer — Katans — A Katan Bridge in Ceylon — The Date Tree — The 

 Oil Palms of Africa — The Oil Trade at Bonny — Its vast and growing Im- 

 portance-American Pahns — The Camauba — The Ceroxylon andicola— The 

 Cabbage Palm — The Gulielma speciosa — The Pia9ava — Difficulties of the 

 Botanist in ascertaining the various Species of Palms — Their wide Geo- 

 graphical Range — Different Physiognomy of the Palms according to their 

 height — The Position and Form of their Fronds — Their Fruits — Their 

 Trunk — The Yriartea Ventricosa . . . . .128 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE CHIEF NUTRITIVE PLANTS OF THE TORRID ZON^E. 



^ce — Various Aspect of the Rice-fields at diiFerent Seasons — Ladang and Sawa 

 Rice — The Cultivation of Rice in South Carolina of modern Date — The Rice- 

 bird — Great Mortality among the Negroes — Arracan and Pegu — Growing 

 Importance of the Port of Akyab — Maize — First imported from America by 

 Columbus — Its enormous Productiveness — Its Cultivation in the United States 

 — Its wide zone of Cultivation — Maize-beer, or Chicha — Millet, Dhourra — 

 The Bread Fruit — Its Importance in the South Sea Islands — History of its 

 Transplantation to the West Indies — Adventures of Bligh and Christian — 

 Pitcaim Island — Bananas — Their ancient Cultivation — Avaca or Manilla 

 Hemp — Humboldt's Remarks on the Banana — The Traveller's Tree of Mada- 

 gascar — The Cassava Root — Tapioca — Yams — Batatas — Quinoa — Arrow- 

 root— Taro— Tropical Fruit Trees — The Chirimoya — The Litchi — The 

 Mangosteen — The Mango ...... 154 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SUGAR. 



Its omm«rciul importaiii; i:., original home — The progress of its cultivation 

 throughout tlio Tropical 7x)no — The Tahitian Sugar-cane — Description of the 

 Plant — Mode of rxtntcf ing the Sugar — The enemies of the Sugar-cane — The 

 Kagar Har^'ett 182 



