28 
one. This is well shown in the ee of it in the North 
Gallery, Nos. 129, 176, and 632. It is majestic in size, and generally 
towers above all other trees in the dry forests where it Tohea. It 
sends out large buttress-like expansions from the base, while its branches 
afford a favourite resting place for numerous epi iphytes. In fact the 
upper parts of an old silke sot tree form a very interesting garden. 
The branches and forks are thickly covered with a large tufted growth 
of several species of Tillandsia, numerous ferns, aroids, orchids, and the 
seedlings of Ficus and other trees whose seeds have been carried thither 
y birds. Next to the Cocoa-nut palm the silk-cotton tree affords one of 
the most characteristic features of tropical vegetation. It is regarded 
with superstition by the negroes both in Africa and the West pei 
and they can with difficulty be induced to cut it down or handle 
In India the tree yields an almost opaque gum of a dark-red sales: 
which is said to be astringent, and to be employed medicinally in bowel 
complaints. The wood is soft and used in tanning leather. An inferior 
reddish fibre is sometimes prepared from the bark, pin 5 me ay 
for making ropes and paper. It pos ee how rcia à 
sc is and the bakin of the tree would n aaa stor the i ajar 
done to it as asource of floss. The young eile are also used medicinally 
in Bombay. They are dried in the shade, powdered and mixed with the 
juice a sgn fresh bark and sugar 
a the growing silk-cotton trees are commonly used as telegraph 
posts as te branches grow so oe dois at right angles to the trunk 
that they do not interfere with the w 
The kapok or fo from EH) ve ee ee an ap actuosum is, pene to 
present demand, a fibre of considerable m The modern t in it was 
created by the Dutch merchants, who non their chief supply edn Java, 
It is said that its wena sg and harshness prevent its becoming matted 
as in some other flos The extending use of kapok seems to point to 
it as a fibre likely to ends in demand year by year. It is important, 
as pointed out by Dr. Watt, to guard against an error “made by many 
iters of viewin pok as a generic trade 
cotton—including that of the s?mal—the floss of ‘Bender moni 
Pee rters placed i 
of dust as well as seed. This was at once donadi and fetched a 
ehya that would not cover the transport charges. India thus fell 
into an inferior position, which might t hay ve been avoided if carefully 
oad fibre had been sent to Europe. 
In the Annual Repor of the Director of the Botanical Department, 
Jamaica, for the year 1884, ap 48, the following particulars were given 
respecting kapok or silk co 
“ The silk-cotton tree i on vty aii objectin the Jamaica landscape, 
especially on the north side, where it attains an enormous size. The 
wood was formerly (and sometimes is now) utilised for the purpose of 
making canoes ; but for all VAA purposes the tree is accounted of 
little value in the West In 
“ The chief supply of kapok i for the Dutch market is obtained from the 
imported, viz.: 1877, 14,093 Talea; 1878, 10,519 bales; 1879, 12, 
bales ; 1880, 6479 bales ; ; 1881, 9991 bales, and 1882, 28,032 bales. 
The average price paid in Engli sh money was Td. per b 1 
“A great difficulty foung i in the importation of silk-cotton was due to 
its great bulk and the heavy cost of transport. The difficulty has now 
