THE TROPICAL ZONE. 207 



most interesting plant of the order. It is an enormous tree, 

 with deciduous leaves, covered with rough points." The 

 wood, which is very much like coarse mahogany in appear- 

 ance, is most valuable on account of its durability, and is 

 perhaps the best in the world for ship-building. 



We are surprised too in the same way to find a branch 

 of the Spurge tribe (Eupkorbiacece) in some beautiful trees 

 in China, which are there cultivated in such extensive plan- 

 tations that they materially affect the appearance of the 

 country wherever they occur ; they go by the not very nice 

 name of the Tallow-tree (Croton sebiferd], for the very good 

 reason that the kernels are filled with a white, pulpy sub- 

 stance, which both looks and smells like tallow, and is used 

 by the Chinese for making candles. These trees have yellow 

 flowers, or, more properly speaking, the stamens and pistils 

 are surrounded by yellow bracts, which look like petals ; but 

 the leaves constitute one chief beauty of the tree, by the 

 manner in which they vary in colour at different seasons, 

 "from a deep crimson to a rich purple tint." Of all the 

 cultivated plants, whether in India or China, perhaps the 

 most important is Rice, on which Eastern nations depend 

 to a great extent for their subsistence. " In the South of 

 China the rice-grounds occupy the whole of the level ground, 



