THE PALMYRA PALSL 
6$ 
snmpits or poisoned arrows of tlio ilalays, and nntler- 
neatli the reticulum is a soft silky material, used aa 
tinder by the Chinese, and applied as oakum in caulking 
the seaujs of ships, while from the interior of the trunk 
a kind of sago ia prepared. 
The Areca palm bears a great resemblance to the cocoa- 
nut tree, but is of a still more graceful form, rising to the 
height of forty or fifty feet, without any inequality on its 
thin polished stem, which is dark green towards tlie top, 
and sustains a crown of feathei-y foliage, in the midst of 
which are clustered the astringent nuts, for whose sake it 
is carefully tended. In the gardens of Ceylon the arcca 
palm is invariably planted near the wells and'water- courses, 
and the betel plant, which immemorial custom has asso- 
ciated to its use, is frequently seen twining round its 
trunk. 
The Palmyra palm, celebmted in verse and prose for the 
numerous benefits it confers upon mankind, extends from 
the confines of Arabia to tlie Moluccas, and is found in 
every region of Hindostan from the Indus to Siam, the 
cocoa and the date tree being probably the only palms 
that enjoy a still wider geographical range. In northern 
Ceylon, and particularly in the peninsula of Juflna, it 
forms extensive forests; and such is its importance in the 
Southern Dekkan, and along the Coromandel coast, that 
its fruits afford a compensating resource to seven millions 
of Hindoos on every occasion of famine or failure of the 
rice crop. Unlike the cocoaj which gracefully bends 
under its ponderous crown, the palmyra rises vertically 
to its full height of seventy or eighty feet, and presents 
a truly majestic sight when laden with its huge clusters 
of fruits, each the size of an ostrich's egg, and of a rich 
brown tint, fading into bright golden at its base. It is 
not till the tree has attained a mature age that its broad 
fan-like leaves begin to detach themselves from the stem ; 
they climb from the ground to its summit in spiral con- 
volutionSj forming a dense cover for many animals— 
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