110 



DATE-PALM. 



[CHAP. XXVIII. 



into the south of Spain from Africa. The tree is seventy or 

 eighty years old, for Pere Antoine, a Roman Catholic priest, 

 who died about twenty years ago, at the age of eighty, told Mr. 

 Bringier that he planted it himself, when he was young. In his 

 will he provided, that they who succeeded to this lot of ground 

 should forfeit it if they cut down the palm. Wishing to know 

 something of Pere Antoine s history, I asked a Catholic Creole, 

 who had a great veneration for him, when he died. He said it 

 could never be ascertained, because, after he became very emaci 

 ated, he walked the streets like a mummy, and gradually dried 

 up, ceasing at last to move ; but his flesh never decayed, or em 

 itted any disagreeable odour. 



Fig. 8. 



Pere Antoine s Date-palm (Phoenix dactylifera). 



If the people here wish to adorn their metropolis with a striking 

 ornament, such as the northern cities can never emulate, let them 

 plant in one of their public squares an avenue of these date-palms. 



