PALMA, one of the Canary Islands, situated off the coast of Western Africa. The soil of this island is more elevated than Teneriffe, being hilly, and full of caverns. It is generally fertile and populous only on its coasts, where are cultivated vegetables, good wine, a great deal of sugar used principally in preserving fruit, in which the island abounds, and a great quantity of almonds. In its southern part Palma is very barren, being strewed with the products of volcanic action. The centre is often covered with snow, and contains extensive pine forests, as well as good timber for ship-building. The region of clouds only is thickly wooded, which gives the island the appearance of a forest when seen from a distance. Tradition says that the Spaniards gave it the name which it bears, from its having a resemblance to a palm-tree when seen from the ocean. The produce in corn is not sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants, so that in years of scarcity they live on the roots of fem, as at Gomera, another of the group. According to Clavijo, there are neither fallow-deer, partridges, nor hares on this island; but rabbits are very numerous, and destructive to the young trees. One of the principal branches of trade is the fishing, which is prosecuted on the coast of Africa in small vessels. The fish being salted, serves, with potatoes, for the food of the common people throughout the islands. Palma is one of the three royal islands, and had a liberty to trade with America, which was not taken advantage of; its commercial intercourse being almost entirely with Teneriffe, and Spain, the mother country. Volcanic eruptions have repeatedly spread ruin and consternation throughout Palma, and its liability to these terrible visitations it shares with Teneriffe and Lanzerota. Santa Cruz de las Palmas, the capital, has a good port. Palma is about twenty-five miles in length by fifteen miles in breadth, and contains about 25,000 inhabitants.

Palma, the capital of Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, belonging to Spain, in the Mediterranean Sea. It has a most excellent harbour, formed by Cape Calafiguera and Cape Blanco, and is very respectably fortified. The city contains 30,000 inhabitants, subsisting on the produce of the fertile fields that surround them, on that of the fisheries, and by means of considerable foreign commerce in silk, thread, oranges, lemons, dates, almonds, and flax. It is the see of a bishop, and has a large cathedral, an academy for drawing, a literary seminary, and, which is the best of the buildings, a large mercantile exchange. The cathedral, by accurate observation, is in east longitude 3. 9. 45. from London, and in north latitude 39. 34. 4. It has a mole 4380 feet long. It contains 3000 large houses, and 29,529 inhabitants.

Palma, a town of the island of Sicily, in the intendancy of Calatinata, and district of Mazzara. It is situated on a fine plain, near gentle hills, on the sea-shore, eighty-six miles from Palermo. It is a healthy place, with 8400 inhabitants, who deal in wine, corn, honey, and other productions of their fertile soil.

Palma, a town of Italy, in the province Terra di Lavoro, of the kingdom of Naples. It stands on a fertile plain, and contains 6300 inhabitants.