Chap. 7.] 
THE PALM-TREE. 
171 
which first gave the idea of a troop of soldiers presenting face 
on two sides at once ; at the present day they are split asunder^^ 
to form ropes and wythes for fastening, as well as light um- 
brellas^* for covering the head. 
The more diligent enquirers into the operations of I^ature 
state that all trees, or rather all plants, and other productions 
of the earth, belong to either one sex or the other ; a fact 
which it may be sufficient to notice on the present occasion, 
and one which manifests itself in no tree more than in the 
palm. The male tree blossoms at the shoots ; the female buds 
without blossoming, the bud being very similar to an ear of 
corn. In both trees the flesh of the fruit shows first, and 
after that the woody part inside of it, or, in other words, the 
seed : and that this is really the case, is proved by the fact, that 
we often find small fruit on the same shoot without any seed in 
it at all. This seed is of an oblong shape, and not rounded 
like the olive- stone. It is also divided down the back by a 
deep indentation, and in most specimens of this fruit there 
is exactly in the middle a sort of navel, as it were, from which 
the root of the tree first takes its growth. In planting this 
seed it is laid on its anterior surface, two being placed side 
by side, while as many more are placed above ; for when 
planted singly, the tree that springs up is but weak and 
sickly, whereas the four seeds all unite and form one strong 
tree. The seed is divided from the flesh of the fruit by several 
coats of a whitish colour, some of which are attached to the 
body of it ; it lies but loosely in the inside of the fruit, ad- 
hering only to the summit by a single thread." 
The flesh of this fruit takes a year to ripen, though in some 
places, Cyprus^^ for instance, even if it should not reach ma- 
turity, it is very agreeable, for the sweetness of its flavour : 
the leaf of the tree too, in that island, is broader than else- 
where, and the fruit rounder than usual : the body of the fruit 
13 See B. xvi. c. 37. 
1* " Umbracula." The fibres of the leaves were probably platted or woven, 
and the "umbracula" made in much the same manner as the straw and 
fibre hats of the present day. 
15 Most of this is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant, ii. 9. 
1^ Fee remarks, that this account is quite erroneous. 
This he copies also from Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8. 
1^ Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8, mentions this as a kind of date peculiar to 
Cyprus. 
I 
