( 5S ) 
CHAPTER III. 
PALMS AND FERNS. 
The Cocoft nut Tree— Ita Immlretl nses —Cocoa nut oil— Coir— Porenpbe 
^vijfHi — Ktiemies of the Ci^coa Palm — The Sago Palm— Thti Snguer 
—The Gumatty— The Areca Palm— The PalnijTa Pulm— The Tali- 
pot— The Cociia de Mer— K«tatis — A Ratan bridge in Ceylon— The 
Pate Tree—Tho OA Paltna of Africa— The Oil Trade at Bonny— Its 
vast and growing importance — American Paluis— The Camniiba^ — 
The CL'rosyloa andicola— The Cabbage Palm— G ill ielma BptcioaA— 
The Piacava — ^Difficulties of tho Iwjtanist in ascertaining the various 
spw:ie3 of Palms— Their wide geographical ran ffo— Different physiog- 
nomy of the Palms according to their height — The position and form 
of their fronds— Their fruits— Their trunk— Tho Yriartea vt-utricoaa 
— Arborescent Ferns. 
The graceful ncantlios gave the ima^native Greeks tlie 
first idea of the Corinthian capitiil ; but the shadj canopy 
of the cocoa-nut tree would no doubt form a stil! more 
beautiful omament of architectare, were it possible for 
art to imitate its feathery fronds and carve their delicate 
tracery in stone. 
Essentially littoral, this noble palm reqnires an atmos- 
phere damp with the spray and moisture of the sea to 
acquire its full stateliness of growth, and while along the 
bleak shores of the Northern Ocean the trees are gene- 
rally bent landward by the rough sea breezej^ and send 
forth no branches to face its violence, the cocoa, on tho 
contrary, loves to bend over the rolling surf, and to drop 
its froits into the tidal wave. Wafted by the winds and 
currents over the sea, the nuts float along without losing 
their germinating x^ower, like other seeds which migrate 
