The double cocoanut, or sea cocoanut as it has been called, is Lodoicea seychel larum. The nuts of this tree are often beautifully polished and carved by na tive workmen, and formed into caskets and other ornaments. The tree, a native of the Seychelle Islands, is very beauti ful, attaining a height of from 50 to 80 feet, with leaves 20 feet long supported on stalks of equal length. The chief products of the tree are timber and fiber for cordage, and a downy kind of fiber which envelops the young leaves is used for filling mattresses and pillows.
The Talipat palm of Ceylon (Corypha umbraculifera) is notable only for the variety of uses to which its leaves are put in Ceylon and other parts of India. They are readily formed into umbrellas and tents; also very much used for the books or colalis of the inhabitants. Many of these alleged to be made of Egyptian papyrus are formed of the leaves of this palm. The tree grows to the height of 100 feet. Licuala peltata is the Chittah-pat of Assam, the leaves of which are extensively used for mak i-g umbrellas, punkahs, and hats. The i stems of L. acutifolia are made into walk ing sticks, named by Europeans "Penang Lawyers." Copernicia cent era, a native of northern Brazil, produces an edible fruit; and from the leaves is obtained an inferior vegetable wax used in candle making.
Of the American palmetto palm, a native of the Carolinas and Florida, the most important species is the cabbage palmetto (Sabal 'palmetto). Its prod ucts are timber and the leaves, the former being exceedingly durable, very porous, and especially valuable for wharf building, as it resists water and is not attacked by the teredo. The palmetto of Europe is Chamterops humilis, which inhabits the countries on both shores of the Mediterranean, oc cupying great tracts. It rarely reaches 10 feet in height, and usually is much less. The leaves are fan-shaped and abound in excellent fiber, with which the Arabs, combining it with camel's hair, make tent covers; in Spain it is made Into ropes and sailcloth, and in France into carpets named African haircloth. The French in Algeria make paper and pasteboard of it. The fruit is edible, and is eaten by the Arabs and the in habitants of Sicily and southern Italy. C. Ritchieana, a native of Scinde and Afghanistan, and C. excelsa, a native of China and Japan, both produce excel lent fiber. The leaves of Thrinax ar gentea supply the material called "chip," of which ladies' hats and bonnets of that name are made. The trunks of T. par viflora, a native of Jamaica, though of slender diameter, are said to be very suitable for piles and marine buildings.
The Piritu of Venezuela, the Paripou of Guiana, and the Paptinba of the Ama zon are the local names of one species of palm—Gulielma speciosa. It pro duces fruits somewhat triangular in shape, about the size of an apricot, and bright reddish yellow in color. They have a peculiar oily flavor, and are eaten boiled or roasted, when they resemble chestnuts. They are also ground into meal, which is baked in cakes. The Great Macaw tree of the West Indies (Acrocomia sclerocarpa) is a native of Jamaica, Trinidad, and the adjacent is lands and continent. In Brazil it is called Macahuba, and in Guiana Macoya. The fruit yields an oil of yellow color, sweetish taste, and having the odor of violets, which is employed by the na tives as an emollient for painful affec tions of the joints; and in Europe it is used in the manufacture of toilet soaps. The Tucum palm (Astrocaryum tu cuma), a native of the Rio Negro and the upper Amazon, yields a very supe rior fiber. The fleshy outer covering of the fruit is eaten by the natives. The Murumuru palm (A. murumuru) pro duces a very agreeable fruit with the fragrance of musk. Cattle eat it with avidity. Attalea funifera furnishes the whalebone-like fiber now so much used for making brooms and brushes. The tree attains the height of 20 or 30 feet. At the base of the leaves, which are used for thatching, the fiber known in com merce as piassava fiber, is employed in the countries in which it grows to make coarse but strong and durable cables. The fruit is the well-known Coquilla nut, much used in turnery for the making of knobs to walking sticks and umbrellas, handles to bell pulls, etc. The print of A. cohune yields from its kernel a valua ble oil called cohune oil. It is a native of Honduras and the Isthmus of Panama. The trunk, which attains the height of about 40 feet and is crowned with leaves some 30 feet long, yields by tapping a kind of palm wine. The palm oil of Africa is the product of the fruit of El xis guineensis. The tree is cultivated now in the West Indies and tropical South America for the sake of the oil. It is used by the natives universally as butter is in Europe. The quantity of palm oil now exported is enormous. It is employed in the manufacture of can dles, toilet and common soaps, and as a lubricant of railway carriage wheels, etc. The Coquito of Chile is Jubxa spectabilis. From its trunk a syrup is extracted, called miel de Palma, which is much es teemed by the Chileans and Europeans.