136 PALMACE.E. [Endogens. 



how little is yet known of Africa, Asia, New Holland, and America. He and Bonpland 

 discovered a new species in almost every 50 miles of travelling, so narrow are the limits 

 within which their range is confined. A different opinion appears to he entertained hy 

 Schouw, a respectable Danish writer upon botanical geography, whose views deserve to 

 be quoted, although he is far from having had such personal means of judging as Hum- 

 boldt and Von Martius. He seems to consider that we are acquainted already with the 

 greater part of the Palms ; for he says, "it appears from the reports of travellers that 

 such Palm woods as those of South America are less frequent in other parts of the 

 world. Africa and New Holland seem to be less favourable to this tribe, for on the 

 Congo, Smith found only from 3 to 4 Palms ; in Guinea we know merely of the same 

 number ; and of the other African Palms, 6 belong to the Isles of Bourbon and France ; 

 New Holland has, in the torrid zone, three species, while Forster's Prodromus of the 

 Flora of the South Sea Islands contains four." It is, however, not to be forgotten that 

 Blume and Griffith have alone added 65 new species to the list of Indian Palms. 

 Blume is of opinion that great numbers still remain to be discovered "in immensis illis 

 et fertilissimis regionibus quarum plerseque primitiva atque intacta vegetatione conte- 

 guntur, neque unquam ab Europseis lustratte sunt." The most northern limit of Palms 

 fs that of Chameerops Palmetto in N. America, in lat. 34°-36°, and of Chamserops 

 humilis in Europe, near Nice, in 43°-44° N. lat. They are found in the southern 

 hemisphere as low as 38° in New Zealand. " It is remarkable that no species of Palm 

 has been found in South Africa, nor was any observed by M. Leschenault on the west 

 coast of New Holland, even within the tropic." Brown in Flinders, 577. 



Wine, oil, wax, flour, sugar, salt, says Humboldt, are the produce of this tribe ; to 

 which Von Martius adds, thread, utensils, weapons, food, and habitations. The most 

 remarkable is the Cocoa Nut, of which an excellent account will be found in the Trans, 

 of the Wernericm Society, vol. v. The root is sometimes masticated instead of the 

 Areca Nut ; of the small fibres baskets are made in Brazil. The hard case of the 

 stem is converted into drums, and used in the construction of huts ; the lower part is 

 so hard as to take a beautiful polish, when it resembles agate ; the reticulated substance 

 at the base of the leaf is formed into cradles, and, as some say, into a coarse kind of 

 cloth. The unexpanded terminal bud is a delicate article of food ; the leaves furnish 

 thatch for dwellings, and materials for fences, buckets, and baskets ; they are used for 

 writing on, and make excellent torches ; potash in abundance is yielded by their ashes ; 

 the midrib of the leaf serves for oars ; the juice of the flower and stems is replete with 

 sugar, and is fermented into excellent wine, or distilled into a sort of spirit, called 

 Arrack ; or the sugar itself is separated, under the name of Jagery. The value of the 

 fruit for food, and the delicious beverage which it contains, are well known to all Euro- 

 peans. The fibrous and uneatable rind is not less useful : it is not only used to polish 

 furniture and to scour the floors of rooms, but is manufactured into a kind of cordage, 

 called Coir rope, which is nearly equal in strength to hemp ; and which Roxburgh 

 designates as the very best of all materials for cables, on account of its great elasticity 

 and strength. Finally, an excellent oil is obtained from the kernel by expression. 

 The juice which flows from the wounded spathes of Borassus flabelliformis, Raphia 

 vinifera, Mauritia vinifera, the Cocoa Nut, and other Palms, is known in India by the 

 name of Toddy. Independently of the grateful qualities of this fluid as a beverage, it 

 is found to be the simplest and easiest remedy that can be employed for removing 

 constipation in persons of delicate habit, especially European females. According 

 to Roxburgh, Caryota urens is highly valuable to the natives of the countries where 

 it grows in plenty. It yields them, during the hot season, an immense quantity of 

 this toddy, or palm wine. The best trees will yield at the rate of 100 pints in the 

 twenty-four hours. The pith, or farinaceous part of the trunk of old trees, is said 

 to be equal to tin' best S;igo ; the natives make it into bread, and boil it into thick 

 gruel ; these form a great part of the diet of the people whose country it inhabits, and 

 during famines they suffer little while those trees last. Roxburgh found it highly nutri- 

 tious. He ate the gruel, and thought it fully as palatable as that made of the Sago we 

 get from the Malay countries (Sagus laevis). Fl. Ind. 3. 625. 



The finest Sago is prepared from Sagus lsevis and genuina, trees forming immense 

 forests on nearly all the Moluccas, and so rich in starch that each individual is reckoned 

 to furnish from 600 to 800 lb. of Sago (Rumphia, 2. 148) ; a similar substance is how- 

 ever yielded by Cary.ita urens, Phoenix farinifera, and many others. 



The Saguerus saccharifcr (or Arenga saccharifera) is one of the most important of 

 the Order. Blume describes it {Rumphia, vol. 2. p. 126) as being from 20 to 25 feet 

 high, and very common in the islands of the Indian Archipelago, the Moluccas and 

 Philippines, where it is of the greatest value on accoimt of its saccharine secretions. 

 This juice is obtained continually from the spadixes in large quantities, by wounding 

 and pounding them while on the trees ; it yields by fermentation an intoxicating 



