VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR, 379 



Jong, Each of tbefe branches, or palms, 

 proceeds from a pedicle fix feet in lengtli| 

 which is indented quite round. 



From the bottom of the leaves arifcs a 

 ramified panicle, the branches of which are 

 terminated by female flowers. The piftil 

 of tbefe flowers, when ripe, produces a fphe- 

 rical fruit, eight or ten inches in diameter. 

 The covering of the fruit is thick and fibrous, 

 like that of the common cocoa. The fliapc 

 of thefe cocoas, however, is extremely An- 

 gular ; and the bottom of them is filled with 

 a milky fubftance, of a bitter and dlfagree- 

 able tafte. The trunk of this tree difTers 

 very little from that of the cocoa-tree ; but 

 it is larger and harder- The I lie of Palms 

 h covered with this tree : but it is not to be 

 found in any of the neighbouring illands, 

 or in any other known part of the world* 

 It is probable, therefore, that thoic nuts 

 which are accidentally found at the Mal- 

 dives 



