PAL.MITE3. 



It is commonly used by the Malay, for making 1 sails, 

 A sail about 18 by 16 feet, costs about 3Sp. dollars. 

 KOOMBAR 



Is a palmite which grows in marshy places, 

 There is hardly any stem. The leaves are often 30 

 ■ ■< i:»n-j; an* I fheir pitln, <euiral part is of the thick- 

 ness of the wrist of a man. This pith is extensively 

 used for the gunwales of boats, being laid lengthways 

 and kept tight down by Iransverse wooden pins. 

 This material, from its lightness, acts like a cork plank, 

 and will prevent a boat, even if full of water and 

 light merchandize, from sinking-. 



The taste or desire for sugar, salt, and intoxicating, 

 or to use a softer word still, exhiliiating substances, 

 hp pears to be inherent in the constitution of man — 

 and few portions of the globe, inhabited by him, can 

 be pointed out where nature has not furnished him 

 with the means of gratifying it. 



The mangrove here forms a marine forest of va- 

 rious breadths. In smur plan s ii is upw ards of a 

 mile broad. To convert the deep mini on which this 

 grous into dry land, would l>e a Herculean labor even 

 for the amphibious Hollander. At a distance, this 

 —the outskirts of Neptune's domains — has a lively ap- 

 pearance, exhibiting" every tint of green, with a bright 

 fbl&gtt) tree glancing out here and there. But on 

 reaching it, all is found to bo dismal and nearly im. 

 penetrable; an agitated mass of w a ves and branches 

 at high tide, and a noisome, low, tract of splashy mud 

 interspersed with deep pools at low water, t nsightly, 

 and at first view, apparently useless as tli is sea- wood 

 may appear, it is only one of the many instances 

 where we shall find that nature proposes utility as the 

 end w here beauty and grandeur are denied ^ besides 

 the constant supply this tract affords of artaps, it 

 fields almost the whole of ihe fire-wood used in 



