98 FAN PALM. ROTAN. 
all the purposes to which thread can be applied, but 
they are neither strong nor durable ; and if exposed to 
moisture, they soon decay. 
109. The FAN PALM is a very remarkable tree (Cory- 
pha umbraco lifers) that grows in the East Indies, but parti- 
cularly in Malabar, and the island of Ceylon; its leaves, 
eight or ten in number, rise out of the summit of the trunk, 
are zcinged and somewhat fan-shaped, and have their segments 
connected by a thread or fibre. 
The stera of the fan palm is straight, cylindrical, 
smooth, and as tall as a ship's mast. Its leaves are up- 
wards of six yards ia length, and four yards wide; and 
form altogether a head of twelve or thirteen yards in 
diameter. These leaves, which, when dry, fold up 
somewhat like a fan, are used for the covering of huts 
and cottages ; arid not unfrcquently by soldiers, instead 
of canvas, for the construction of tents. One of them 
is sufficiently large to shelter twenty persons from the 
rays of the sun. They are also a kind of natural 
paper on which the inhabitants write, by means of a 
sharp-pointed iron instrument, which leaves indelible 
marks upon them. Many of the books which are 
shown in Europe for those of Egyptian papyrus (26) 
are said to be formed of parts of these leaves. The 
pith of the trunk, beaten into a kind of paste and mixed 
with water, is formed into cakes, and constitutes a spe- 
cies of bread, very serviceable to the inhabitants in 
times of scarcity. The juice of some parts of the tree 
is used as an emetic. 
The fan palms are said not to bear fruit until they 
are near forty years old ; but after this period, when 
in perfection, they produce annually more than twenty 
thousand berries each. These are each about 1| inch 
diameter, of globular shape, smooth, green, and fleshy; 
but are not known to be of any use. 
110. The ROTANG or DRAGON'S BLOOD TREE, 
is a species of cane (Calamus rocang) which grows to the 
length of more than a hundred feet, is about as thick as a 
man's arm, and is closely beset with erect prickles. 
