THE TECHNOLOGIST. [March 1, 1864. 



384 



liijulifir Jtas. 



The Palm of Chili. — This Palm is very valuable, supplying a sub- 

 stitute for honey in a country where there are no bees. ] t grows from 

 forty to fifty feet high ; the limbs all spring upwards from the top, 

 and, falling over, form a graceful round head. The fruit in every 

 respect is like the cocoa-nut, except that it is not larger than a 

 walnut. At particular seasons of the year the trunk is bored, and the 

 sap, by evaporation, forms a honey, which, when distilled, yields an 

 intoxicating licpior called "guarake," much sought after by the lower 

 classes. The annual produce of a single tree is estimated to be worth 

 as much as ten dollars. It is chiefly in the middle province that this 

 palm is found. It is not a common tree, being very partially dis- 

 tributed, but several estates owe much of their value to the number of 

 palms upon them ; and although the stem is useless, the leaves, sap and 

 fruit, yield a large income to the proprietor. For thatching houses the 

 leaves are considered better and more durable than any other material. 

 The small cocoa-nuts, about an inch in diameter, of which every tree 

 produces a great number, are highly esteemed, and form a considerable 

 article of export to Peru. A curious method is employed to free the 

 nut from the green husk in which it is enveloped, a process that was 

 formerly attended with a very great loss of time and labour. A number 

 of cows and oxen are driven into an enclosure, where a quantity of the 

 fruit is spread, and being very fond of its husk, they immediately begin 

 to feed on the fruit, only slightly masticating it in the first instance, 

 and swallowing the whole ; afterwards, while chewing the cud, the nuts 

 are rejected, and when the meal is finished, a heap of them is found 

 before each of the animals, perfectly free from the husk, the cattle 

 being thus supplied with food at a season when little grass remains 

 on the hills, at the same time that they effectually perform a very 

 useful operation. 



The Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta, Willd.). — In Japan, the native 

 country of this species, the Japanese, who make considerable planta- 

 tions of it around their houses, are said to eat the seeds, and extract an 

 inferior kind of sago from the pith or central part of the stem ; whence 

 it has received the name of Sago Palm, although the true sago of the 

 shops is the production of a very different plant, the Sagus Rumpkii, 

 Willd., which is a true palm. According to Dr. Hamilton (Travels in 

 Mysore, vol. ii., p. 469), the^ flour used by the poorer natives of Malabar, 

 called " Indium Podi," is prepared from the seed of a species of Cycas, 

 dried and beaten in a mortar. 



