mit a fubftance, in ihape lik e the cone o f the Norway fir : Are
female, a ftem about a yard .long, oat o f the fummit o f which
iffues feveral upright pinnated leaves, and fruit o f the .fize o f a
p lum b : the laft fattened io a flender ftalk, and pendent. Thefe
contain two nuts.
T h is plant is p f great ufe as a food-in every country it grows
,jn. The young fhoots are dreffed like afparagus ; the fruit is
alfo commonly eaten, and forms an ingredient in bxoths. The
foft wood is chewed with the Areca nut.
lN ot N a t iv e . Thi s fpecies is not indigenous in Ceylon, and is only culti-
vated, and that rarely, in that ifland. In Malabar it grows on
certain rocky and fandy mountains, and is called there, Todda
Parma; fee Rbeede, iii. p. 9, tab. 13. 0.1. % is faid to have a
great fympathy with iron, and that i f dying, will revive on
having an iron -wedge driven into it- The fruit is eaten by the
Malabars with fugar, / Saccharo St.. Thomm), The Tbomjfis, or
Chriflians of St. Thomas, deck their churches with its branches.
-Rumphiijs, L p. 91, denies that this is the genuine fpecies,
and we muft allow his authority- A t tab. xxiv. he gives the
true kind, which is the fame with the Cycas revoluta of Tbun-
bergt Fl.Japon. p. 229, the pith of which is the famous Sago.
In time of war the Japanefe foldiers carry it with them in
their campaigns; fo finall a portion will ferve to fuppori a fingle
man, that the emperoi prohibits the exporting any of the trees
to a foreign enemy, under pain of death, for fear of imparting
to a hoftile neighbour the fame benefit Japan enjoys from this
nutritive food.
Corre* Tee*. Pyx. Coffee tree has -been introduced, and fucceeds greatly.
Nothing
Nothing can equal the. bëauty of the plantations. The trees
are placed thinly,, and between them is planted that charming
ihrub the Erythrina Corallodendron, with its rich fcarlet flowers,
deiigned to proteéh the delicate coffee from the intenfe heat of
the almoff vertical fun *.
Scandens,— vi. tab, 32, and the Ekxuo/a of the fame plate, are O p h i o g l o j s u m .
long climbing plants, and when fplit are o f vaftufe as thongs,
and. for the-making of 'bafkets-
9ÿercijplium is a iîhgulâr fpecies, engraven by old Cfujlus in Poiytooium,
his Exotics, and by Rumpbius, vi. tab. 36.. It is ufed in Atti-
b'oina againgft the dangerous poifori of the Gekko.
Pec e m s-
T he laft claft, the Palms, fuddenly appear, fiiperibr in fub-
limity to the reft o f the vegetable kingdom-
Mucifenti Calappa, or Tinga, Rum ph.Am boin.iAsb.i, v, is Cocos,
the nobleft and moft ufeful tree Of this clafs.- I have fpoken
of it at page 138 ; fo ihall proceed to the following,,as next to It
in importance, whether we regard its magnificence or utility.
Flabelliformis, Rumpb. Amboin. l. tab. 10. The leaves are Boeassus.
Ikrge and palmated, the edges of the ffialks ferrated ; the leaves
are four féet long, divided into feventy or eighty rays, like the
flicks o f a fan, and may be Folded up in the fame manner. In
Màcaffar they are made into umbrellas, but are fo highly
efteemed there* that they are carried by none but by a few pesions
of the firft rank. The fruit grows in clofters,, and each is
about the fize o f a child’s head. Within is a. very eatable pulp,
* Thunbcrg’s Voy. iv. 153.;
and