PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
103 
formerly a place of great importance, but now only a mass of picturesque ruins, 
which tell the melancholy story of its former splendour. Palmyra was also called, 
Tadmor, and, in the sacred book of Chronicles, it is described as having been built 
by Solomon. On the other hand, the city of Palmyra is said to have derived its 
name from the word palm, in consequence of this plant flourishing in its vicinity. 
The Palmyra palm is a stately plant, common in the islands of the Eastern Archi¬ 
pelago, and the southern parts of India. Its leaves are used in making fans and 
punkahs, and also in thatching ; the fruit is eaten ; the sap is drank in its natural 
state, and forms a refreshing drink, or is evaporated to make a coarse sugar; but, if 
fermented, it forms one of the intoxicating liquors of tropical countries; our 
intelligent associate, Mr. Molyneux, tells me, that he has often seen the natives of 
India drawing off the palm juice for this purpose. 
My friend, Mr. Butler, thinks that these Indian letters are formed of the leaf 
of the date-palm ( Phoenix dactylifera) and not of the Palmyra palm. Mr. Butler 
having forwarded a leaf of the former to me, I will give a short account of the 
plant, which fulfils a very important part in the economy of nature, its fruit being 
the almost only food of a large portion of mankind. The date tree is one of the 
best known, and, probably, the earliest known of the palms ; it is the palm tree of 
Scripture, and was emblematic of Judaea, as is learned from coins. 
“The extensive importance of the date-tree is,’’ says Dr. Clarke, “one of the 
most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his attention. A considerable 
part of the inhabitants of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia subsist almost entirely on its 
fruit. They make a conserve of it with sugar, and even grind the hard stones in 
their handmills for their camels. In Barbary, they form handsome beads of these 
stones. Erom the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes ; the 
trunk is split, and used in small buildings, also for fences to gardens, and the stalks 
of the leaves for making cages for their poultry. Parts of the leaves are also twisted 
into ropes, which are employed in rigging small vessels. The sap of this species 
also yields the intoxicating liquor of which I have already made mention ; by the 
withdrawal of the sap the stem is exhausted, becomes dry, and is used for firewood. 
Such being the importance and multiplied uses of the date-tree, it is not surprising 
that, in an arid and barren country, it should form so prominent a subject of 
allusion and description in the works of Arab authors, and have so many names in 
their language.” About fifteen years ago, the finest date-tree in Europe was in the 
conservatory of the Earl of Tankerville, at Walton-on-Thames ; it was then 
sixty years old, the stem seven feet four inches in circumference, and the leaves 
thirty feet long. 
The last plant, to which I will direct your attention, is a very beautiful and in¬ 
teresting member of the Cycadeas, I mean the sago palm ( Cycas revoluta)* of 
Japan; where Thunbergf tells us it is held in such estimation, that it is contrary 
to the laws of Japan to take the trees out of it. The Cycas revoluta (of which I ex¬ 
hibit a leaf) is not, however, the only plant from which sago is procured ; of late 
years a very fine sago has been brought from Brazil, supposed to be the produce of 
the Mauritia flexuosa , and some of the other magnificent palms of that country ; a 
species of the date-tree, Phoenix , also yields an abundant supply of this flour, 
hence it is called farinifera , or flower bearing; there are other plants, also, of the 
palm tribe which yield sago, but an enumeration of them is unnecessary. 
It will be more interesting to describe the process of preparing sago, which 
signifies, in the language of the Papuans, bread, since it forms the staple article of 
food to the inhabitants of the eastern Archipelago and other parts where the plants which 
yield it grow. Sago is a variety of starch, which nature has supplied to the plant for the 
use of the flowers and fruit, and is most abundant just before the appearance of 
the flour-bud, which is known by a whitish dust appearing on the leaves. At this 
time the stem is cut down, near the base, and then divided into pieces of five or 
*The leaves of the date-tree and of the sago palm—which were exhibited at the meeting—were 
taken from plants growing in the conservatory at Woodstock, the seat of the Right Hon. William F. 
Tighe. The conservatory is circular, and was designed and executed in metal, by J. Turner, of 
Hammersmith, Dublin. 
f Thunberg, a celebrated Dutch traveller and botanist, in honour of whom the pretty genus of 
stone plants, Thunbbrgia, was so called. 
