its Character and Productions. 205 



The Cabbage-tree, Areca, or Seaforthia sapida, was 

 Hoticed by Cook, and has been since well described by one 

 wlio visited the island-* It is a handsome palm, with 

 a trunk about twenty feet in height and from one and 

 a half to two feet in circumference, with annular scars, left 

 by the fallen leaves. The fronds form a princely crest at 

 the top of this elegant column. They are pectinate, and 

 are sometimes nineteen feet in length. They vary from 

 nine to fifteen in number. The apex of the trunk is inclosed 

 in the sheathing bases of the leaf-stalks, along with the 

 flower-buds aiid young leaves. When the leaves fall, double- 

 compressed sheaths are discovered, pointed at the upper 

 extremity, which split open indiscriminately on the upper 

 ■or under side, and fall off, leaving a branched spadix, or 

 flower-stem, which is of ivory whiteness, and attached by a 

 broad base to the trunk. The flowers are produced upon 

 this spadix. They are very small, and are succeeded by 

 round seeds, red externally, but white, and as hard as horn 

 within. As the seeds advance towards maturity, the spadix 

 becomes gxeen. The young unfolded leaves of this cabbage- 

 tree rise perpendicularly in the centre of the crest. In this 

 state they are used for making brooms. Those still unpro- 

 tected, and remaining inclosed within the sheaths of the 

 older leaves, form a white mass as thick as a man's arm. 

 This is eaten raw, boiled or pickled. In a raw state it tastes 

 like a nut, and boiled it resembles artichoke bottoms. The 

 seeds furnish food for the Wood-quest. 



The Fretjcinetia Baueriana, or Norfolk Island Grass- 

 tree, belongs to the tribe of Pandanece, or Screw Pines. 

 Its stem, an inch and a half in diameter, and marked by 

 rings as the former, lies on the ground, or, winding round 

 the trunks of trees, climbs like ivy to their summit. The 



* Backliousc, p. 264. 



