The leaf-blades are carried at various angles, and 
sometimes, as in Attalea, edgewise towards the light, or 
in Rhopaloblaste, with the pinnse pendulous* Those of 
Copernicia cerifera are coated with a wax which is com- 
mercial* 
The outer part of the trunk is usually made of very 
hard wood, and is useful in various ways ; while the 
thinner stems make good walking sticks, e.g., Ptychoraphis 
singaporensiSf which finds a local use, and Rhapis 
ftabellifoliat which is exported from southern China as the 
partridge cane.'* The growing point, or cabbage, of 
most palms is edible, and of some a great delicacy. Even 
the small cabbage of certain rattans is used. Toddy made 
from the wild date, and a few other species of palm, is 
sugary sap drawn from this cabbage ; but it is generally 
more convenient to draw the sap, not by cuts into the 
cabbage, but by cutting its side shoots which bear the 
flowers. This is the way in which the coconut, Arenga 
saccharifera^ and Nipa palms are tapped. A century ago 
all the sugar consumed in the Malay Peninsula came from 
the Arenga. The sugar is, of course, nutriment for the 
production of new tissues and chiefly for the growth of 
the seed ; therefore tapping comes towards seed-time. 
The grapples of the rattan, consisting of long thorny 
whips, are in some species the end part of the leaves, and 
in others sterilised flower-stems. They are wonderfully 
efficient, so that a rattan seldom fails to maintain a place in 
the sun. 
The length of the life of a palm tree varies greatly. 
The betel palm fruits at 5-6 years of age and lives to 30. 
The sugar palm, Arenga sacchariferat fruits at 10 years and 
lives to 12. The coconut fruits at 5-8 years, according to 
RATTANS, CLIMBING INTO A TREE OF CYRTOPHYLLUM 
PEREGRINUM. [Phcto by ]. F. Rocf<. 
