580 PALMS. 



nature, for it is dry and mealy, and may be compared in taste 

 to a mixture of chestnuts and cheese. It is eagerly devoured 

 by vultures, who come in quarrelsome flocks to the trees when 

 it is ripe. Dogs often feed on it. It is one of the few trees 

 which the natives brought with them, it is said, from their 

 original home, and have here cultivated from time imme- 

 inorial. The fruit, when boiled, is nearly as mealy as a potato ; 

 and in perfection is the size of a large peach. It is generally 

 supposed that there is more nutriment in the fruit than in fish, 

 — about a dozen forming a meal for a grown-up person. The 

 leaves of its crown are evenly arched over, forming a deep 

 green vault — the more beautiful from the rich colour of the 

 foliage. When the heavy cluster of ripe red fruit hangs 

 under its dark vault, the tree is in its greatest beauty. 



The palms are among the most characteristic features of 

 tropical scenery. The variety of their forms, fruit, foliage, 

 and flowers is perfectly bewildering, and yet as a group their 

 character is unmistakable. On the whole, no family of trees 

 is more similar ; generically and specifically, none is more 

 varied. Their leaves follow the simple arrangement of those 

 of grasses, in which the leaves are placed alternately on 

 opposite sides of the stem, thus dividing the space round it in 

 halves. As the stem of the branches elongates, these pairs of 

 leaves are found scattered along its length, and it is only in 

 the ears, or spikes of some genera, that we find them growing 

 so compactly on the axis as to form a close head. 



Of this law of growth the palm known as the baccaba 

 is an admirable illustration, its leaves being disposed in pairs 

 one above another at the summit of the stem, but in such 

 immediate contact as to form a thick crown. Its appearance 

 is in consequence totally different from any other palm, except 



