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diameter of a date tree^ and its growth is very 

 slow ; it is without bruaches and perfectly cy- 

 lindrical^ but when young- is covered with the 

 footstalks of leavesj which fall olF as the tree in- 

 creases in size. The leaves and flowers are ana- 

 log-ous to those of the palm ; the last are mo- 

 noical, and disposed in four clusters which hang 

 around the tree. When in the bud thev are en- 

 closed within a spath, or woody slieath, which 

 opens as the flower expands. When the fruit 

 begins to form,, the spath separates itself into two 

 hemispherical parts of about three feet long by 

 two broad. Each of these bunches produces 

 more than a thousand coconuts, and iioihing can 

 be (uorc beautiful than to see one of these trees 

 covered with fruit, shaded by the upper branches 

 which bend over in the form of an arch. 



The fruit, like the tropical coconut^ has two 

 coverings ; the outer is luird externally and of 

 a green colour, which gradually changes into a 

 yellow, and the inside is filled with a kind of 

 filaceous wool ; the interior shell is woody^ 

 smooth and round, and so hard that il would bo 

 difficult for the nut to germinate v.ere it not for 

 the two stems v/hich are attached to the upper 

 part of the shell, and separated from the nut 

 only by a thin pellicle. The kernel is spherical, 

 a little hollow in the middle, vhice, and of a 

 very agreeable taste, and w hen fresh, contains a 

 milky liquor wliieh is pleasant and refrigeralorv. 



L 'u 



