Book IV. The Natural Fiiftory, &c. 46r- 
Of Nucirerous TREES, SHRUBS, azd PLANTS. 
g YHO’ thefe are not generally efteemed among the moft delicious 
Fruits ; yet the Kernels of many of them are not only agreeable 
to the Tafte, but valuable alfo for the great Quantity of Oil they afford ; 
nor are they defigned for the Ufe of Man only, but likewife to be the moft 
common, and almoft the peculiar Food of a certain Species of (1) Animals. 
Thofe who think meanly of this, or any Part of the Creation, are ge+ 
nerally Men of narrow Conceptions, and {canty Knowlege, which barely 
_ skims over the Surface of Things 
Hence arifes that partial Judgment, which would confine the Good- 
nels of God, as the (2) Syrians of old would his Power, within narrow 
and local Bounds. 
Thefe fhort-fighted Obfervers confider not, that the Chait, of which 
they fee but a Part, reaches to the Ends of the Earth. 
When we extend our Views, and give our Inquiries a greater Scope; 
the more will our Ideas bé inlarged, when we find the common Father 
of All, every-where prefent, pouring forth his Bleffings with a bounti-. 
ful Profufion ; theh every diftin@ Part, which we had before inadvert- 
ently looked upon as mean and trivial, will gradually rife in our Efteem, 
and appear in its native Beauty. 
For Inftance; Let an Inhabitant of a Noithern Climate, where thefe 
Fruits we are treating of, are not very inviting to the Palate, trace the 
different Species of this kind into other Regions, growing under the be- 
nign Influence of a warmer Sun; let him examine the various Species 
which the lofty Palms alone produce, and he will find them no lef nume- 
rous than ufeful, till he comes at laft to the moft remarkable and valuable 
of all others, the Coco-nut. 
When he fees and confiders the admirable Texture of the Whole of this 
furprifing Fruit, efpecially the thick husky Covering with which itis cafed, 
to prevent the piercing Rays of the Sun from abforbing the limpid Water 
it contains, fo grateful to Man, and fo neceflary to give Rife and Nourifh- 
ment to its delicious Kernel : This, and its Growth, will appear {till more 
wonderful, as well as more replete with Wifdom and Goodnefs ; efpecially 
when he confiders the Situation of thofe Countries, and the Soil wherein 
they generally grow ; and how great will his Admiration be, when he 
finds, that Providence hath ordained thefe to thrive and flourith in the 
moft barren and fandy Defarts of Ezhiopia, Africa, and Arabia, where 
Nature denies almoft every other Herbage! 
Let us likewife (at leaft in Imagination) follow our Fellow-Creatures the 
Inhabitants of thefe Climates; let us fanfy we view the fainting Traveller 
pafling thro’ thefe inhofpitable Defarts, where neither a grateful Verdure: 
chears the Eye, nor the Murmurs of even a diftant Stream the Ear; view him 
hungry and thirfty, doubting, murmuring, and almoft faying aloud with 
the I/raelites, Can God find Food in the W ilderne/s ? when, ona fudden, 
fome intervening Hillock is paft, which forbad the pleafing Profpect ; a 
(x) Squirrels. (2) 1 Kings xx. 2g% * Dd thick 
