heavy dews that fall nightly in hot countries: the tree is, consequently, preserved from perishing, though its branches sometimes appear dead, and the leaves look dry and withered. But when the trunk is pierced, a sweet and nourishing milk flows out, which is always most abundant at sunrising. He who is then abroad, may see a crowd of blacks, and natives, hastening from all quarters, and carrying large bowls to receive the milk; some drink from the bowls beneath the tree, others carry the juice home to their children. What a wonderful provision ! The cow-tree does not grow in the burning deserts of Africa, and why? Because the camel traverses them, and its rich abundant milk supplies the wandering Arabs, that pitch their tents upon the burning soil. But the camel is not found in South America; and in the region of the cow-tree, there is neither pasturage nor cattle. A tree is, therefore, stationed in that arid region, which abundantly supplies the wants of the inhabitants. Old and feeble persons are provided with a nutritious beverage, and little infants are nourished with pure milk.

The Shea, or Butter Tree of Africa, affords another instance of that protecting care, which abundantly supplies the wants of man. It grows in the wooded country round Ashantee, and Kabba, and resembles an American oak, while its fruit is like the Spanish olive. Butter, in this country, though a grateful addition, is not an absolute necessary of life; but in the native regions of its vegetable prototype, where there is little variety, it forms not only a pleasant but nutricious viand, and is much firmer, as well as superior in flavour, to that produced from milk. Salt is not essential to its preservation, in even that hot country; and salt, perhaps, could not easily

be obtained; vegetable butter, therefore, never becomes rancid, but it will keep even through the year.

Now look to that vast extent of country, the native regions of the Cocos, which include a considerable part of South America, of Africa, and both the Indies. By this single production of the vegetable world, what incalculable blessings are bestowed on man. It almost supersedes the necessity for much exertion in those torrid lands, where manual labour is sometimes paralysed by the oppression of the climate. This noble tree rises like a stately column to thirty or forty feet in height; it is crowned with a verdant capital of waving branches, and surmounted with long spiral leaves, beneath which, tufts of blossoms, and clusters of green or ripened nuts, appear in mingled beauty. These nuts contain a delicious juice, and the kernels, when dried, afford abundance of oil; the remainder is used for feeding cattle, and poultry, and for manure. The shell is also employed for cups and ladles, and the enclosing husk is invaluable to the natives of the East. It is manufactured into ropes and cordage of every description, from small twine to the largest cables, which are far more durable than those of hemp. The leaves that canopy the head, make, when platted together, excellent thatch, coarse mats for cottage floors, common umbrellas, and brooms; while the finer fibres are woven into beautiful mats for the apartments of the rich. The trunk, too, though porous, furnishes beams and rafters for dwelling-houses. Nor is this all. The extraordinary arrangement of the fibres, which form its bark, evidently gave rise to the art of weaving. As the tree increases in size and age, this bark appears like regular woven coarse bagging, and comes loose from the trunk. We owe the

knowledge of this curious fact to Captain Riley's Narrative of the loss of the American Brig Commerce, and his subsequent captivity in the Great Desert. He tells us, that the primitive mode of making cloth is retained by the Arabs, that women are employed in its construction, and that when they have spun a sufficient quantity of threads, they drive into the ground two rows of pegs in parallel lines, wrap the yarn around them, and commence weaving by a kind of wooden sword, run through the yarn under one thread, and over another, in the manner of darning. This sword they carry with them; and to Captain Riley it seemed as if it had been used for ages. The cloth, when finished, closely resembles the outer bark of the cocoa tree, which is, indeed, frequently employed, as clothing, by the natives of Africa.

All that is essential to the wants of man, is, therefore, comprised in the cocoa-tree. In proof of this we may observe, that the inhabitants of the Nicobar islands build their vessels, make the sails and cordage, supply themselves with provisions, and other necessaries, provide a cargo of arrack, vinegar, oil, and coarse sugar, cocoanuts, cordage, and black paint, with several inferior articles for foreign markets, from the multifarious productions of this valuable tree.

"Lo! higher still the stately Palm-trees* rise,

Chequering the clouds with their unbending stems,
And o'er the clouds, amid the dark blue skies,

Lifting their rich unfading diadems.

How calm and placidly they rest

Upon the heaven's indulgent breast.

As if their branches never breeze had known!
Light bathes them, aye, in glancing showers,
And silence mid their lofty bowers

Sits on her moveless throne."-Isle of Palms.

* Phoenix, or Date Tree.

These vegetable columns are often seen in the vast deserts of the Zaara, rising to the height of, perhaps, one hundred feet. They comprise within themselves almost every thing that is essential to the wants of man: fruit; a sweet mucilaginous juice resembling milk; honey from the dates; and a grateful food for the sheep and camels, by steeping the stones in water. It is even said that from one variety of the Palm Tree, the phanix farinifera, a meal has been extracted, which is found among the fibres of the stem. The trunk is employed for fuel, a spirituous liquor is prepared from the sap; the fibres of the boughs furnish threads, ropes, and rigging; the leaves are used for brushes, for mats and bags, for baskets and couches, and as fans for chasing away the troublesome insects that infest hot countries; the branches, too, are employed in making cages for poultry, and garden fences. But the phoenix is a lofty tree, and its vegetable treasures, its leaves, and fruit, grow at a great height. To obtain them, would, therefore, be extremely difficult; the tribes which inhabit the wild deserts of Barbary, know little of modern inventions, and even if they did, the carrying of a ladder to any considerable distance would be inconvenient, if not impossible; but the difficulty is provided for, and the phoenix, notwithstanding its great height, may be ascended as readily as a step-ladder. The trunk is full of cavities, vestiges of decayed leaves, which have within them a flat surface, exactly adapted for the reception of the hands and feet. The natives, therefore, run nimbly up the towering phoenix, and even boys and women are not afraid to venture.

This noble tree attains its greatest perfection in the vast deserts of Sahara, and in Arabia, because there its

presence is essential. Wandering tribes frequent the

extensive precincts of these deserts, and scarcely anything will grow there, except occasionally a few solitary patches of maize. Exposed to a burning sun, and sometimes covered with drifts of sand, vegetation proceeds slowly, even on the borders of the desert, and the hopes of the husbandman are frequently disappointed. Without this valuable tree, man might indeed exist, because the camel would suffice for every actual want; but how could the camel be supported? Provender will sometimes fail, and then, as I have before observed, the stones of the fruit, when steeped in water, support both men and camels in long journeys across the desert. To those, too, who lead a settled life upon its borders, beside their palm groves, and are within reach of water, these noble trees supply every needful want; and on those great wastes of sand, that are never trodden, except by the wandering steps of predatory Arabs, the palm-tree stands majestic and alone, a storehouse richly supplied with all that is essential to their wants. It not only yields a salutary food for both men and cattle, but uniformly indicates fresh water near the roots. Groves of palms are often seen like beacons, in the midst of sultry deserts; and beneath their umbrageous canopy, the fainting traveller may find a shelter in the noon-day heat. Some of these are very ancient. That of Elim yet remains, and its twelve fountains, have neither increased, nor diminished in number, since the days of Moses.

The poor inhabitants of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, subsist almost entirely on dates; and hence it was, that when Egypt was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the conquest was principally effected by the destruction of the numerous date forests, with which it abounded. Behold," said the Prophet Jere

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