I'.U.U.W | P \i.\l II ! 



I., verage, and, when boiled, a kind of Bugar, consumed lor varioui 



are exhausted by the incessant draining <>t their fluids, 

 obtain trunk, as much as 150 i" 200 II'-. wi ight from s 



r i- extremelj bard, and lii for building purposi - ; and tin 

 annually from i to 7 lbs. of the Btrong black fibn . bling hoi 



Gomutie, which are extensivelj us< d in the manufacture of cabli a and variou 

 rope ; th< \ are also employed for Btitching together thatch, for making bi 

 similar puri \xe these the vegetable bristles nov ly imported for ma 



brooms I) The midribs of the side li avi b are conv< rted into pens calk d ] 

 tin' tine- arrows which the Indians blow from their long tubes. Finally, there is at th 

 of the leavi i a fine woollj material < Baru) much employed in caulking ships, as Btuffing 

 for cushions, and as tinder. Their •• < labbage" is mi i atable, Like that ..i the w i st 



Indian Cabbage Palm, Areca oli racea, whose buge terminal bud is known by tin-' num.'. 

 Egyptian Bdellium, a gum-resinous BubBtance, formerly employed as a dim 

 diuphoretic, is obtained from Hyphsene thebaica. Besides the Saguerus already men- 

 tioned, verj considerable quantities ol sugar are procured from Phoenix sylvesl 

 kind of wild date, which Dr. Roxburgh computed to furnish annually in Bengal i" 

 c-u t. of date Bugar. 



The well known Betel Nut is the fruit "t' Areca Catechu, and remarkable for it-. 

 ' power; from the same popular fruit is prepared a \ i 

 Catechu. It has, however, been '1"-' ght doubtful whether the intoxicatii 



out is nol to I P o which il is wrapped \ 



than :<i any Bpecial property of its own. 



Blume tells us thai tin- Asiatic nations would rather forego meal and drink than 

 their favourite Areca nuts; whole ship-loads of whieh are annually exported 

 Sumatra, .\l;iki.v;i, siam, and ( 'ui'liiiicliina. They contain a large quantity of tannin. 

 which lias caused them to be employed in some pari of India for dyeing cotton cloths. 

 The leafstalks, Bpathes, and (amber are employed for many domestic purposes, and in 

 Malabar an inebriating lozenge is prepared from t In ■ In the 



opinion of this author, the practice of chewing the nuts, although offensive t" Euro- 

 peans, is really rery conducive to health in the damp and pestilent regions of India, 

 where the natives live upon a spare and miserable diet. As to the Brazilian Palms, 

 Martins states that the kernel of various Bpecii - of Attalea, when rubbed in v 

 an emulsion used in medicine, both externally and internally. The juice of the unripe 

 fruil of ( !ocos schizoph} llus i- employed in slight ophthalmic attack-. 



The fruit of a few of them is rat. .Mi- ; as, for example, the Date Palm, Pb 



dactylifera, which furnishes the mosl important part of their f I to tin- tribes of the 



d< m rl ; Borne other species of Phoenix eaten in India ; the Cocoa Nut, too wi 1 



t.i require description ; and the Doom Palm, Hyphame thebaica, which is called in 



Egypt the Gingerbread Tree, because of the extreme resemblant f its brown mealy 



rind to that Bort of cake : Zalacca edulis, a kind of Cane, with a juicy, pulpy i 

 iu^ t,, it-, st eds, much esteemed by the Burmese ; and a few others of l< -- im] i 

 In so im , however, the fruil is extremely acrid. 



The fruit i.t' Saguerus saccharifer is of that nature, exciting severe inflammao' 

 the mouth of th..-.' who che^ it ; it was the basis of the "infernal water" which 

 the Moluccans used in their wars, to pour over their enemies : n< veri 

 unripe albumen forma a beautiful kind of sweetmeat, which the Chinese and l 

 ool li s drink with th.ir tea ; it is prepared bj .; in hm. ad boiluig 



in i. iin.d Bugar. The same acridity occurs in the fruil of Car 

 others. 



oil and wax are only oflees common occurrence than farina ;1 oil, 



of which enormous quantities are employed in Europe as a sort ol 

 and candle making, is chiefly obtained from Elais iruineensis and mi 



'-• 



these trees are also said to yield the best kind of Palm wii 

 many Cocointe are other species whose fruit contains nil. The Ceroxyl 

 Wax Palm of Humboldt, has its trun I by a coating of wax, 



the spac> between the insertion of the leaves [t is, accordii 

 crete inflammable substance, consisting of l-3d wax and 2-1 

 remarkable bet, firsl noticed by Brown at the i 



whose fruit affords oil bi long to a tribe called bj him I 

 characterised bj the original]} trilocular putamen having its ■•. 11- wbi 

 opposite th. -eat of the embryo, and, when abortive, »■ A 



species called Carnauba, in Bra; il, throws off waxj 

 Cocoa-nut "il is imported into England in cot 

 prising that it is not more general!) used in En 



