192 VOYAGE EEOM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 



perfectly round, of the size of a cherry, and contained some fleshy 

 matter, but nothing- of a fibrous character hke the common areca. 



The stem was a little thicker, very straight and high. Below 

 at the stem and underneath the crown it w-as closely overgrown 

 with thorns, standing- out horizontally. The rings of the stem 

 were like those of the areca tree, the colour was darker, the 

 leaves w-ere more like those of the coco tree, but they were 

 prickly at the back. 



It is the useful tree which furnishes the w^ood for the light 

 articles made on our coast, which are commonly supposed by the 

 sailors to be made out of the areca tree. They sometimes grow 

 together in groups. The Dutch people call them Landohsen, 

 and from their sheaths, wdiich are leathery and faintly striped, 

 small vessels are made for the purpose of drawing- water ; they 

 are light and convenient. 



[ Here ends the first part of Vol. 2. ] 



