PALMS. 
135 
of large pinnate leaves radiating from the centre and 
arching outwards, hears a remarkable resemblance to 
the habit of the Palms. Beautiful it is at all times ; 
hut it is in the flowering season that its name of 
Mountain-pride is felt to be appropriate ; when its 
summit is crowned by a dense pyramid of lively pink 
flowers, several feet in diameter and in height. In 
districts where this tree is numerous, the eflect is 
said to be most magnificent. 
Two fine species of real Palms are found in these 
lofty woods, though not in great numbers. The one 
is the Long Thatch, a species of Cocos, whose long 
pinnate fronds are used for thatching the houses of 
the negro peasants ; the other is the Mountain Cab- 
bage {Areca oleracea), one of the very noblest of this 
kingly race of plants. It shoots up its verdant tuft 
of feathery fronds to an enormous elevation, some 
specimens even to the height (as is credibly asserted) 
of two hundred feet. To think of a tree as high as 
the Monument of London, with a slender branchless 
stem, as straight as an arrow, perfectly cylindrical, 
yet not more than a foot in diameter ! The immense 
spike of blossom that projects in the early autumn 
from the base of the crown, arching gracefully down- 
wards, is a fine object. I have seen, at such times, 
the earth beneath the tree, for a space of many 
square yards, quite white with the scattered pollen, 
as if a light snow shower had fallen. Bees, Beetles, 
Flies, and other insects, throng around it in this sea- 
son, attracted by the nectariferous bloom, and them- 
selves forming an attraction for numerous Swallows, 
which, darting by on rapid wing, snatch their selected 
