BOTANY. 



TSie Palm Trees form a most astonishing family in the 

 History of the Vegetable Kingdom ; their amazing height ; 

 their majestic forms; the delightful and extensive shadows 

 •which they yield to the weary traveller, induced Linnaeus 

 to give them the name of Princes of India ; and if we add 

 to these external qualities, the Flour, the Wine, and the 

 Oil, which they so plentifully produce, we may regard 

 them as one amongst those Blessings for which Man has 

 reason to be highly grateful to his Creator. 



It is also supposed that this Plant might exist, by 

 a comparison of the climate and temperature, if trans- 

 planted to the mountainous regions of Switzerland ; hitherto 

 however there is nothing more than conjecture to strengthen 

 this opinion. 



The Flower grows at the upper part of the Tree, 

 shooting from a sheath or spatha, in clusters or bunches, 

 upon which the berries are afterwards formed ; the root 

 consists of various arms and shoots spreading out at the 

 foot, and giving security to the trunk. 



The circular stripes which appear in the external bark 

 of the trunk, indicate the gradual expansion of the Tree, 

 each circle being formed every year, so that the relative 

 age of the tree may be easily ascertained. 



i 



In the East Indies, the uses of the Palm Trees are 

 extremely multifarious, for independently of the Canauca, 

 Palm, which yields an excellent wax from it's leaves, 

 by boiling ; there is also another species, which supplies 

 the natives with the following articles ; bread, oil, milk, 

 wine, ropes, masts, oars, cordage, clothing, wax, rosin, 

 needles and thread. 



