270 



THE ELDER. 



persons from this seemingly contemptible shrub 

 without great propriety ; its peculiar properties 

 are not to be wondered at, though numerous ; 

 they are indeed chiefly medicinal, and those of 

 other plants are sometimes principally nutri- 

 tious and domestic. Nature has differently dis- 

 tributed her bounties among plants, and placed 

 them together sometimes in great numbers. 

 The Palm-tree, as Strabo says, has three hun- 

 dred and sixty uses, and the Cocoa or Coker- 

 nut-tree yields wine, bread, milk, oil, sugar, salt, 

 vinegar, tinctures, tans, spices, thread, needles, 

 linen-cloth, cups, dishes, baskets, mats, um- 

 brellas, paper, brooms, ropes, sails, and almost all 

 that belong to the rigging of a ship, if we may 

 believe Fr. Hernandez, and other authors. Be- 

 side this Sambucus aquatilis seu palustris, we 

 have another sort, which we call Scau-au-Cuz, or 

 the Elder of the Wood ; — some call it Maiden 

 Elder. Its uses have not been hitherto dis- 

 covered to be as various and salutary as those of 

 the foregoing, but its wood is more flexible, and 

 will divide lengthways, as perfectly almost as 

 whalebone, and is therefore much coveted by 

 joyners." 



