float at top, and the flour subsides. After being cleared in this manner by several waters, the pulp is put into cylindrical baskets made of the leaves of the tree; and if it is to be kept some time, those baskets are generally sunk in fresh water to keep it moist. One tree will produce from two to four hundred weight of flour. "We seldom or never see sago in Europe but in a granulated state. To bring it into this state from the flour, it must be first moistened and passed through a sieve into an iron pot (very shallow) held over a fire, which enables it to assume a globular form. Thus all our grained sago is half baked and will keep long. The pulp or powder of which this is made will also keep long if preserved from the air, but if exposed, it presently turns sour." Stem of the Sago Tree, showing the pith from which the Sago is extracted, We learn also from the same authority, that loaves Forrest's Voyage to the Moluccas, p. 39, second edition. of bread are sometimes made in the Molucca Islands of the pith of the sago, and that these loaves are baked in small ovens, the floors of which are divided by means of partitions into cells about the size of an octavo volume." The leaf of the sago is used in the same quarter for covering houses, and in that climate will not need to be renewed oftener than once in seven years. When the sago tree is cut down, its vegetative power still remains in the root, which again puts forth its leaves and forms the trunk, and this proceeds again through its different stages until it is again subjected to the axe, and made to yield its alimentary contents for the service of man. Sago is also produced from many varieties of palms, but the tree here described is that which furnishes the best. The produce of the Cycas circinalis, so often erroneously mentioned as yielding the sago of commerce, is very inferior. If the native of the Molucca Islands has his sagobread without the labour of cultivating the plant which produces it, the Indian of the Cordilleras of South America has his supply of milk from a tree, growing at a vast height amidst arid mountains, where no cattle can pasture. The Cow-Tree has been described by Humboldt with his characteristic spirit and accuracy; and it was much earlier noticed by Laet, a Dutch traveller, as growing in the province of Cumana. On the side of a thirsty rock," says Humboldt, " grows a tree whose leaves are dry and husky. Its large roots penetrate with difficulty through the stony soil. During many months of the year not a shower waters its foliage; the branches appear withered and dead; but when its trunk is pierced, a sweet and nourishing milk flows from the wound. It is at the rising of the sun that this ve The natives and getable aliment is most plentiful. the black slaves then gather together from all parts with large wooden vessels to catch the milk, which as it flows becomes yellow, and thickens on the surface. Some make their abundant meal at the foot of the tree which supplies it; others carry their full vessels home to their children *" In tropical countries the force of vegetation is so great, and the wants of society so few, that magnificent trees are destroyed for the sake of a small portion of food, such as a few square feet of an English garden would produce. The CABBAGE-PALM-Areca oleracea is a most gigantic tree; its stem, which, near to its base, is about seven feet in circumference, ascends straight and tapering to a vast height. It is of a brown colour, hard, ligneous, divided into short joints, and pithy within like elder. Several feet from the summit, the tree assumes a fluted form, and a green colour; which change is occasioned by the husky tegument that forms the petioles, which thence diverge far in a horizontal direction, like the crown of a pineapple. These are decorated with numerous leaflets, some of which are about three feet long, and an inch and a half broad, tapering into a sharp point; the leaflets gradually decrease in size as they approach the extremities of the branches. This regular, lofty group of foliage, impelled by the most gentle gale, and constantly waving in feathery elegance, is an object of beauty which cannot be imagined by an inhabitant of temperate climes, unused to the magnificent vegetation of a tropical sun. The seed is inclosed in a brown spatha or sheath, which arises from the centre of the branches, and, hanging downwards, consists of small oval nuts, not unlike a bunch of * 'Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales,' tom. v. p. 264. dried grapes, but much longer in proportion to their circumference. Within the leaves which surround the top of the trunk, the cabbage lies concealed. It is white, about two or three feet long, as thick as a man's arm, and perfectly cylindrical. This substance is composed of longitudinal flakes like ribands, but so compact as to form a crisp, solid body. When eaten raw it resembles the almond in flavour, but is more tender and delicious. It is usually cut into pieces, boiled, and served as an auxiliary vegetable with meat. To obtain this small portion, borne on the pinnacle of the tree, and hidden from the eye of man, the axe is applied to the stately trunk, and this majestic lord of the mountain-top is laid low, to furnish a small quantity of vegetable matter, which is "eaten like cauliflower," and which receives its distinctive name from our lowly cabbage. Surely this rivals the tales handed down to us of Roman epicurism! In the cavity made in the trunk by the removal of the cabbage, a kind of black beetle deposits its spawn, from which grubs, which are called the palmtree worms, are produced, and these, strange to say, are eaten as a great delicacy. Stedman gives the following account of this choice luxury of Guiana. "Another negro also brought me a regale of groegroe, or cabbage-tree worms, as they are called in Surinam. This reptile grows to the size and thickness of a man's thumb, and is extremely fat. However disgusting to appearance, these worms are a delicious treat to many people, and they are regularly sold at Paramaribo. The manner of dressing them is by frying them in a pan with a very little butter and salt, or spitting them on a wooden skewer. In taste they partake of all the spices of India, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, &c. Several species of as mace, |