262 
BLUEFIELDS. 
diverging crown of fronds here set on the summit of 
a stem sixty feet high, and there one of the same ex- 
tent three feet from the ground, and close by another 
set of fronds equally expansive, springing from a cen- 
tral spot of earth, and radiating, without any visible 
stem at all, we cannot help an emotion somewhat akin 
to surprise. The fact is, however, that the stem of a 
Palm has acquired its full diameter, before it begins 
to rise from the earth, and its subsequent increase is 
merely in height, by the progressive development of 
one great terminal bud. It is this bud, which in the 
Cabbage Palm is eaten as a delicacy, either boiled, or 
raw as a salad : the young unexpanded leaves are 
wrapped over each other so closely, as to acquire a 
crispness and a tenderness, which with the delicate 
whiteness produced by the exclusion of light, some- 
what resemble those of the heart of a large cabbage. 
It may be worth remarking that the frond of the 
Cocoa-nut is entire when first expanded, though 
plaited. It is the growth of the mid rib which splits 
each side of the leaf into sword-shaped pinnae, that 
by and by are widely separated from each other. 
The pinnae and fronds of all our Palms are used by 
the negroes for thatching, and, being split, for the 
making of hats and baskets, resembling those of 
straw. 
THE TWO-HEADED SNAKE. 
In digging the ground or removing stones that 
have lain long half-imbedded in the soil, a little Ser- 
pent is often found by the negroes, which from the 
