and were so large, that each branch was equal to a monstrous tree ; 
and where the water of a neighbouring river had washed away the 
earth, so as to leave the roots of one of these trees bare and open to 
the sight, they measured 110 feet long, without including those parts 
of the roots which remained covered. The tree yields a fruit which 
resembles a gourd, and which serves for vessels of various uses; the 
bark furnishes a coarse thread which they form into ropes, and into a 
cloth, with which the natives cover their middle from the girdle to the 
knees ; the small leaves supply them with food in a time of scarcity, 
while the large ones are used for covering their houses.’ The dried 
leaves, reduced to a powder, constitute halo, a favourite article with 
the natives of the eastern coast of Africa, and which they mix daily 
with their food, for the purpose of diminishing the excess of perspira- 
tion occasioned by the heat of those climates; even Europeans find it 
serviceable in cases of diarrhea, fevers, and other diseases. On the 
eastern coast of Africa the tree is liable to the attack of a species of 
fungus, which vegetates in the woody part, and which, without chang- 
ing its colour or appearance, destroys life, and renders the part so 
attacked very soft. Such trunks as have been so attacked are hollowed 
out into chambers, and within them are suspended the dead bodies of 
those who are refused the honour of burial. There they become 
dry and well preserved, without further preparation 
or embalmment, and are known by the name of guiroits. The farin- 
nveloping the seeds tastes somewhat like gingerbread, 
and is eaten with or without sugar by the natives. At Bangole it forms 
the principal part of the food of the natives, who season many of their 
dishes with it, especially a kind of gruel made of corn called rooy. It 
was the chief support of Major Pedley’s expedition for 10 or 12 days. 
In our own country many yegetable monuments of great antiquity ex- 
ist, particularly among Yew-trees. Those of Fountain’s Abbey, in 
Yorkshire, are believed to be more than a thousand years old; Adan- 
son, however, calculates that the age of some of the African trees to 
which we have alluded, could not be less than five thousand years. 
InrropucTION; WHERE GROWN; Curture. The present speci- 
men was sent us by Mr. Sheppard of the Liverpool Garden, who states 
that “he raised it from seeds sent from Trinidad by the late Baron de 
Shack, under the name of Bombax quadrangularis. The plant is now 
about 8 feet high with spreading branches, the young ones being very 
mummies perfectly 
acious pulp e 
