262 BLUEFIELDS. 



diverging crown of fronds here set on the summit of 

 a stem sixty feet high, and there one of the same ex- 

 tent three feet from the ground, and close by another 

 set of fronds equally expansive, springing from a cen- 

 tral spot of earth, and radiating, without any visible 

 stem at all, we cannot help an emotion somewhat akin 

 to surprise. The fact is, however, that the stem of a 

 Palm has acquired its full diameter, before it begins 

 to rise from the earth, and its subsequent increase is 

 merely in height, by the progressive development of 

 one great terminal bud. It is this bud, which in the 

 Cabbage Palm is eaten as a delicacy, either boiled, or 

 raw as a salad : the young unexpanded leaves are 

 wrapped over each other so closely, as to acquire a 

 crispness and a tenderness, which with the delicate 

 whiteness produced by the exclusion of light, some- 

 what resemble those of the heart of a large cabbage. 

 It may be worth remarking that the frond of the 

 Cocoa-nut is entire when first expanded, though 

 plaited. It is the growth of the mid rib which splits 

 each side of the leaf into sword-shaped pinnae, that 

 by and by are widely separated from each other. 

 The pinnae and fronds of all our Palms are used by 

 the negroes for thatching, and, being split, for the 

 making of hats and baskets, resembling those of 

 straw. 



THE TWO-HEADED SNAKE. 



In digging the ground or removing stones that 

 have lain long half-imbedded in the soil, a little Ser- 

 pent is often found by the negroes, which from the 



