The morning news., 1894-11-02
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

ana OInSr ukS-Ahe RAIN r au11ly
Considered the Most Wonderful.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
What DO l consider the most wonder
ful tree in the world? The palm, my lad.
the symmetrical, graceful palm, whose
nodding crest and undulating, wide
spreading leaves are usually the first OBJ
Jects that greet the weary-eyed seaman
as he nears the low, singing sands of the
tropics. Drop those suspenders, Tom,
take a hitch in the waistband of your
trousers, and I'll spin you a yarn about
some remarkable trees have seen in the
course of my forty years drifting around
the world"
F'lecking the ashes from his fragrant
Havana, the bronzed seaman gazed ap-
proyingIy at his favorite nephew, who,
with a quick move, cut a pigeon wing, cast
aside the offending article of wearing ap-
parel, which was an abominaton in the
sight OF the old seaman. and, balancing
himself for a moment, with arms akimbO,
touched his hat in true nautical style as
he exclaimed: ''Heave ahead your
honor"
ITO launch my yarn properly, Tom, J
must tell you that the ancients viewed the
palm, the oak and the ash as sacred trees.
The first among them, which figures on
the Oldest monuments of the Egyptians
and Assyrians, IS the date palm, which is
the symbol of the world ana of creation,
and the fruit of which filled the faithful
with divine strength ana prepared them
Tor the pleasures of Immortality.
Honor, said Mohammed, thy eternal
aunt, the date palm, for in Paradise it was
| created out of the same dust of the
ground.
The Jews and the Arabs, again, looked
upon the same tree as mystical allegory
of human beings, for, like them, it dies
when its head is cut of, and when a limb
/ IS once cut off it does not grow again.
/ Those who know can understand the mys-
terious language of the branches on days
when there is no wind, when whispers of
/ present and future events are communi-
Gated by the tree. Abraham of old, so
/ the Rabbis say. understood the Ian
/ guage of the palm.
From the wonderful palm are obtained
starch, sugar, oil, wax and edible fruits ;
Z the buds are eaten like vegetables, the
/ leaves form coverings for habitations and
materials for manuscripts, from the fiber
! coarse cloth is made, while the Juice is
sometimes fermented so as to form a spirit
/ called arrack, or palm wine. The native
! African of the present time make wine
and beer, palm trees and bananas furn-
ishing the raw materials.
/ The cocoanut palm is utilized to
/ greater extent than any other variety of
/ this wonderful tree, both as regards food,
/ luXuries, clothing, habitations, and uten-
/ sils 1t is a native of the Island of Ceylon.
Tom, one of the most beautiful spots on
/ the face of the globe. l have smelled the
perfume waited from that spice paradise
/ out to sea long before Adams Peak
] efr frT,,
/ tering horizon
This tree furnishes almost all that a
| Singhalese villa ger requires. It's fruit
when green, supplies food and drink
when ripe it yields oil. It's sap gives him
/ teddy and arrack. The fibrous casing OF
1 the fruit when woven makes him ropes
nets and mating. The nutshells are fash
/ ioned into drinking utensils, spoons, and
articles for culinary purposes. The plated
/ leaves makes excellent plates and thatch
/ for the hut. The dried flower stalks are
used as torches, the large leaf stalks as
/ garden fences. The trunk of the tree
sawn up is used for every possible pur-
/ pose, from knife handles to door posts ;
/ followed out it forms alike a canoe or
( coffin. Cocoa-nut oil is produced from the
white kernel which lines the shell of the
nut
THE palm of Borneo and Sumatra fur
| nishes to a large extent the starchy mat
] lti hlOWil dS EdSDy WIllle the SdBO-
/ of MALAGA has a worldwide reputation.
The ivory junk and set of chess men,
/ Tom, ! brought from Shanghai was made
/ by the Chinese workman from the palm
! of the Magdalena river district, and IL
known to the mercantile world as the
vegetable ivory palm, because the hard.
horny a'bumen of its seed is used like
/ ivory. finding a ready market among the
! nimble-ingered Chinese, who produce Gu
! rios and whimsical carvings that delight
and surprise the beholder.
There is a wonderful palm that grows
/ at the mouth of the Orinoco river 1t
/ grows to a considerable hight, and at n
/ distance resembles a huge futed pillar
crowned by an immense fan. This effect
/ is produced by a dozen or more leaves
| having stems as large as the trunk of a
/ good-sized pear tree, and each leaf would
easily cover room measuring 20 by 30
feet They are known as the ita palm
/ pronounced ee-tah), and when sighted for
the first time, and nodding and bending to
| the freshening breeze with their straight
plant trunks and fan-like leaves shivering
and rustl'ng not unlike the top-sail Of
ship when in the wind, the sight, my lad.
is both curious and full of interest
THE river, like its great brother the
Nile, at certain periods Of the year reg
ularIy overflows its banks covering the
surrounding country for miles around and
often to the depth Of ten fathoms
(sixtY feeD. But for the valuable prop
critics of the ita, palm the fetrile PLAINS
bordering the mighty river would be
beyond the power of man to cultivate.
Heat and moisture are the great es-
sentials necessary to develop this peculiar
/ palm, and there is no lack of either in lhc
| land of the Warruas as the natives are
/ called, once passed a month among these
singular people, Tom, and watched their
habits, but will content myself with de-
scribing their manner of constructing -
house.
During the dry season four ita trees
I forming the corners Of a tolerably true
square, are selected, clearing away all
Intervening underbrush. The overflow
/ from the river never varies over an inch
from season to season, leaving an unmis-
7 taxable mark on the trees, from which tho
native bases his calculations. with his
huge knife he cuts notches in the spongy
wood four feet above high-water mark
into which he fits planks, lashing them
firmly in place with ropes woven from
the tough fiber of the great leaves. He
next hoists aloft a bundle OF split leaf
stems, covering the planks. on these
fresh. unbroken leaves are laid. ana the
whole cemented by q liberal coating Of