274 



UNITED STATES. 



Stem or trunk is erect, and rises to eighty or ninety^ 

 feet, embellished at top by a globe of plumed leaves, 

 each somewhat like a large fan, and plicated in the 

 same manner, each frond with its stipes or stem, 

 thirty feet in length ; the frond or expanded part of 

 the leaf is fifteen feet over. There are six species 

 of the palm in Carolina and Florida, all of which have 

 flabelli-formed leaves or fronds. ' 



It js the central part of this vast plant at top which 

 stands erect, like a sharp cone or sugar-loaf, sur- 

 rounded by the expanding leaves, that is eaten, 

 roasted or boiled, like cabbage ; and consists of the 

 young frond, rudiments of fronds, with all the suc- 

 ceeding appendages of the future growth, involved 

 together, white and tender as a curd, as rich, and of 

 the like pleasant flavour. 



A well grown palm stands perfectly erect, on a 

 shaft or column of sixty or eighty feet high, its base 

 three feet diameter, having three or four rings and 

 circular mouldings, three or four feet upwards ; from 

 thence upwards to the top, it diminishes almost im- 

 perceptibly, forming a model of a pillar for the great- 

 est architect, perhaps inimitable. 



A tree produces but one cabbage, and, as soon as 

 that is cut off, this glorious production of nature pe- 

 rishes. But, though the tree dies, yet it ceases not 

 to be useful ; the exterior ligneous parts, of 3-4 of 

 an inch in thickness, is as hard as bone when dry, 

 and the interior spongy consistence being rotted out, 

 or devoured by wornjs, it makes excellent trunks or 

 conduits for draining off water, being almost incor- 

 ruptible under ground. These shafts also, split in 

 two, and set upright in the ground, make strong and 



