478 THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 
dens, are likewise condemned; and the seeds of the 
Laburnum have done serious mischief. 
But despite some poisonous and hurtful tendencies, 
there is a noble excellence in the royal race. They fur- 
nish food unmeasured to thousands of hungry dependents. 
We may begin with the Peanut, indispensable every- 
where, from the Yankee town-meeting hall and circus, to 
the negro-huts of Senegambia. The quantity of these 
consumed for food the world over is probably far greater 
than generally supposed. As to Peas and Beans, not 
only Aaaa the soldier of the Rebellion fully know their 
value, and every New Englander who loves his Sunday 
breakfast bear witness, but the world admits it all since 
the time when Daniel and his three friends grew fatter 
upon pulse than on the King’s meat, The sacred writer 
does not say they changed their diet from the “King’s 
meat” to the very flesh of royalty, but so it really was- 
The Tamarind is the cheerful friend of the convalescent; 
and Shenstone says of a drink skilfully made from it, — 
“ Whoso drank the pas draught 
Would neyer wish for wine.” 
There are several sorts, produced by related plants,,and 
known as Brown Tamarinds, Velvet Tamarinds, and Tam- 
arind Plums, all highly prized. The Carob-tree has a 
pod in which the seeds are buried in a dry, mealy- pulp, 
very nutritious, and eaten freely by horses in Spain an 
the Levant. It is supposed to be the tree which furnished 
the “locusts,” or locust-pods, that fed John the Baptist 
in the wilderness. The West India Locust affords some- 
thing very similar, and as readily eaten. The Parkia, an 
African tree, furnishes seeds of which the natives make @ 
sauce for "a b cakes like chocolate, eating also the 
the pods. The famous drink of Cone? 
