152 On the Explosion of a Meteor. 
Pausing a little, and looking round on the valley below, 
he said,—“ You have now been living some time in our 
country, and in your travels you have often seen a bread- 
fruit tree withered, dying, all but dead, moss covering its 
trunk, no leaves on its branches, no fruit. You have thought, 
—alas! alas! this once fine tree is now only fit to be cut 
down and cast into the fire. 
«A few months after you have returned that way, you have 
looked again on that bread-fruit tree ; but now it is changed. 
The moss is clean off the trunk, the branches are all covered 
with green leaves, and they are laden with fine fruit. How 
changed! how beautiful! You look underneath, and there 
you see an ‘aloe. When the bread-fruit tree had been 
found to be in a state of decay, the owner planted an aloe- 
plant near its roots, and in a very short time the influence 
of the aloe-plant checked the decay, and caused it to revive, 
to flourish, and to bring forth fruit. . 
“ Now,” said the warrior chief to the missionary, “ while 
you have been speaking, I have been thinking we very much, 
just now, resemble the decaying, dying, worthless bread- 
fruit tree ; but God has sent you with his Word, and he has 
planted you near to our side. Now, do not be soon discour- 
aged,—do not fear. Very soon we shall revive,—we shall 
flourish and bring forth good fruit.” 
I have related this anecdote, to introduce to your notice 
the fact that an aloe planted near the withering bread- 
fruit tree causes it to revive. It is a beautiful fact, and, 
generally known, might lead some learned in botany to in- 
quire into the causes, Xe. 
On the Explosion of a Meteor. Communicated by RICHARD 
CoRBET, Esq., in a letter to R. CHAMBERS, Esq. 
ADDERLEY, MARKET DRAYTON, 
SHROPSHIRE, March 17,1854. 
My DEAR Sir,—I send you a copy of a paragraph that 
appeared in the Shrewsbury Journal of the 15th instant, 
believing that it will not be uninteresting to you. The 
report of the explosion of this meteor was most distinctly 
