PALMS AND BAMBOOS. 73 



Barringtonia are also found on this seaboard, and also certain 

 kinds of Hibiscus, from the bark of which twine and cordage 

 are manufactured, and the Aleurites or candle-nut also occurs. 

 (See Proc. Linn. Soc, Bot., vol. vii. May 13, 1863.) 



While passing through the woods bordering the sea, one 

 frequently comes across the celebrated tangena, the tree produc- 

 ing a poisonous nut which was long used in Madagascar as an 

 ordeal for the detection of certain crimes. The tangena is 

 about the size of a cherry-tree, and with its glossy green 

 leaves, somewhat resembling those of a horse-chestnut in 

 shape, would be a handsome addition to our ornamental 

 shrubs, could, it be acclimatised in England. But the tree 

 was valued because of the power supposed to be inherent in 

 the fruit, in which a kind of divine influence was believed to 

 be embodied. The customs connected with this poison ordeal 

 will, moreover, be more appropriately described in the chapter 

 on Folk-lore and Popular Superstitions. 



Another tree which frequently occurs along the eastern 

 coast is the filao (Casuarina equisetifolia) or beef- wood tree. 

 It is a tall graceful tree, with fine wire-like leaves, resembling 

 the fir. Its wood, however, is quite distinct from that of the 

 fir, and it belongs to another botanical order, that of the 

 Amentaceae. It is indigenous to Madagascar, but it is also 

 found in the Malayo-Polynesian and Australian regions. It 

 is never, I believe, found far from the sea. 



Palms and Bamboos. — The sago-palm is rather common on 

 the maritime plains, but sago is not used for food by the 

 people. Among the palms, both on the eastern and western 

 sides of the island, the fan-palm {Borassus flabclliformis ?) 

 is found very plentifully. Surely among the thousand of 

 beautiful objects in this beautiful world these graceful palms, 

 with their spreading crowns of enormous fans, are not the 

 least worthy of admiration. They are not met with in con- 

 siderable numbers on the east coast, but are more plentiful 

 in the warmer plains of the western side of Madagascar. In 

 sailing down the river Betsiboka we passed for several hours 

 along groves of these palms. As we swept down the stream 

 with the rapid current, the tall trunks seemed to pass by us 

 as in a panorama, rising from the water's edge like columnar 



