FERNS. 
77 
swells in the middle to a tbreefold diameter, and, from its 
conTenieut form, is frequently used by tlie Indians for tlie 
construction of tlieir canoes. 
TJie form and colour of tlie fruits are also extremely 
TOrioos. AVIiafc a difference between the large double 
nnts of the Lodoicea and the date — between the egg- 
shaped fruits of the Mauritia, whose scaly rind gives 
them tho appearance of fir-cones, and the gold and purple 
peaches of the Pirijao, hanging in colossal clusters of 
sixty or eighty fi-om the summit of the majestic trunk. 
The family of the ferns is spread over the whole earth, 
but chiefly abounds in the \ncinity of the tropics. Most 
of these plants love the shady and damp ground of the 
primitive forest, others attach themselves with their roots 
to rocks or trees. In the equatorial regions several of 
their species attain arboreal dimensionSj with stems from 
twelve to thirty feet high and extensive crowns of large 
fronds, imitating the stately tufrs of palms. But they do 
not possess the noble elegance of these kings of the vege- 
table world I and their stems, of a sombre brown coIouFj 
