Plants, characteristic of Different Nations. 345 



India, is the cocos palm. The stem is used, the fruit presents 

 the almond-like kernel, oil, and milk ; the shell is converted 

 to utensils, the woody tissue (coir) surrounding it makes 

 excellent cordage, the leaves are used as thatch, and, lastly, 

 the toddy is a produce of this tree. 



To New Zealand, the ( New Zealand flax' (Phormium 

 tenax) is characteristic. The fibres of the leaves surpass in 

 strength, by far, our hemp or flax, and are by the natives 

 applied to garments and cordage. 



Spices, such as the clove, nutmeg, pepper, and ginger, are 

 characteristic to the Malays of the Indian islands, although 

 India possesses all of these spices in common with the archi- 

 phelago. 



The Maize (that of all kinds of grains which yields the 

 richest, but also the most uncertain harvest) was originally 

 given the American tribes, with whom it was largely culti- 

 vated at a considerable elevation ; thus, for instance, at the 

 sun-temple of the Incas, on an island in the Titicaca lake, 

 1200 feet above the level of the sea, it was cultivated, with 

 difficulty, as an offering to the sun, and that the grains 

 produced at that spot might be distributed to the people, 

 who looked upon a single maize-grain, grown at the temple 

 as a sanctified and propitious object. In North America 

 also the maize was cultivated before the first arrival of the 

 Europeans. 



America was endowed with another splendid gift — the 

 potatoe, which also succeeded in the higher regions, and the 

 farinaceous tuber of which afforded an excellent article of 

 food. 



In the table land of Mexico the Maguey-plant (Agave 

 americana) the vine of the Mexicans, was cultivated long be- 

 fore the time of the Europeans. In its native soil this plant 

 shoots forth blossoms after a period of eight or ten years (in 

 other climates it requires a much longer time), and when the 

 gigantic peduncle is about developing itself, there is an im- 



