CHAP. XVII.] 



CABBAGE PALM. 



235 



belonging to species which still inhabit the neighboring coast, 

 showing how modern is the date, geologically speaking, of the ex 

 tinct animals, since they were evidently posterior to the existing 

 molluscous fauna of the sea. 



The scenery of the low flat island of Skiddaway had more of 

 a tropical aspect than any which I had yet seen in the United 

 States. Several distinct species of palmetto, or fan palm, were 

 common, as also the tree, or cabbage palm, a noble species, which 



Fig. 6. 



Charruerops Palmetto. 

 Cabbage Palm, or Tall Palmetto, Skiddaway Island, Georgia. 



I had never seen before. In some of the cotton-fields many in 

 dividuals were growing singly, having been planted at regular in 

 tervals to the exclusion of all other trees, and were from twenty- 

 five to forty feet in height. The trunk bulges at the base, above 

 which it is usually about one foot in diameter, and of the same 

 size throughout, or rather increasing upward. At the top the 



