Book Description

Excerpt from Descriptive Account of the Palo De Vaca, Or, Cow Tree of the Caracas: With a Chemical Analysis of the Milk and Bark There is no department of natural history more fraught with rich and luxuriant proofs of design, than the physiology of plants; nor are the exuberant bounties of a beneficent Providence any where more amply manifested. The Palms, for instance, supply almost all the requisites of nomadic life: "corn, wine, and oil," are expressive of the sustenance of our species; and Palms yield sago, milk, wine, wax, and oil, besides cordage, culinary vessels, caps, and suits of raiment. Their leaves form a shade from the vertical rays of the sun, and a shelter from the early and latter rains, as well as a roof for the wig-wam; not to enter into the detail of a long list of all that is necessary to the tenants of the tropics. It is, indeed, more especially in equatorial regions that we are most sensibly impressed with the Creator's bounty to his creatures, and the fuller emphasis of the gift recorded in the expressive language of the sacred records: "I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for meat." What could the islander of the Pacific do without his taro and the bread-fruit tree? - to him, indeed, the "stay of bread" and "staff of life;" and how could millions more, both in the old and new world, subsist, without the "Sago Palm," the "Jaca," the "Plantain," and "Banana?" - and what could the Arab do without the Date? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.