BANANA TREE. 
285 
nial ; it bears fruit but once ; and in all respects it 
differs from trees of the palmaceous kind, and in- 
deed from all sorts of trees whatever. The ensete, 
on the contrary, has no naked stem, no part of it is 
woody; the body of it, for several feet high, is escu- 
lent; but no part of the banana can be eaten. As 
soon as the stalk of the ensete appears perfect and 
full of leaves, the body of the plant turns hard and 
fibrous, and is no longer eatable ; before, it is the 
best of all vegetables. When boiled it has the taste 
of the best new wheat-bread not perfectly baked. 
<c When you make use of the ensete for eating, 
you cut it immediately above the small detached 
roots, and perhaps a foot or two higher, as the plant 
is of age. You strip the green from the upper part 
till it becomes white ; when soft, like a turnip well 
boiled, if eat with milk or butter, it is the best of all 
food, wholesome, nourishing, and easily digested.” 
What follows is chiefly to prove, that notwith- 
standing the figure of the banana occurs among the 
Egyptian hieroglyphics, yet it is merely adventitious 
in Egypt, and is really a native of Syria. 
