302 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XI. 
altogether one of the most remarkable that has been discovered 
in Madagascar. And the extent to which it prevails may be 
inferred from the native name, ravinala, by which it was de¬ 
signated by Sonnerat, its discoverer. Eavinala is literally 
leaf of the forest, as if it was the leaf by which the forest was 
characterised, which is the fact where it abounds, though in 
many parts it is not met with at all. The tree rises from the 
ground with a thick succulent stem like that of the plantain, 
or the larger species of strelitzia, to both of which it bears a 
strong resemblance. It sends out from the centre of the stem 
long broad leaves like those of the plantain, only less fragile, 
and rising, not round the stalk, but in two lines on opposite 
sides, so that as the leaves increase, and the lower ones droop 
at the end, or extend horizontally, the tree presents the 
appearance of a large open fan. When the stem rises ten or 
twelve feet high, the lower part of the outer covering becomes 
hard and dry, like the bark of the cocoa-nut tree. Many of 
the trees in this region were at least thirty feet from the 
ground to the lowest leaves. I frequently counted from 
twenty to twenty-four leaves on a single tree, the stalk of 
each leaf being six or eight feet long, and the broad leaf itself 
four or six feet more. 
The whole of these twenty-four bright green gigantic leaves, 
spread out like a fan at the top of a trunk thirty feet high, 
presented a spectacle as impressive as it was to me rare and 
beautiful; and in this part of the country they were the most 
conspicuous objects for miles together, and were it not that 
these vast bright green shining leaves are slit on each side by 
the winds, and so flutter in smaller portions with the passing 
breeze, the prevalence of this tree would impart a degree of 
almost inconceivable magnificence to the vegetation of the 
country. 
In the fan-like head of the traveller’s tree, there were 
generally three or four branches of seed pods. The parts of 
