from eight to twelve feet long, firm, shining, and tapering, and each embraces, at its insertion, a considerable part of the trunk. The trunk of the Palm is, in fact, made up of the remains of leaves, the ends of which are prominent just under the crown, but more obliterated towards the root of the tree, the bottoms of these leaves are enveloped in membranous sheaths or fringed with very tough fibrous matter; these leaves are pinnated, or in the form of feathers, each leaf being composed of a great number of long narrow leaflets, which are attenuated and of a bright lively green; near the base of the tree these leaflets are often three feet long, but even then they are not one inch in breadth, neither do they open flat, but remain with a ridge in the middle, like the keel of a boat. When the leaves are young, they are twisted together and matted up with loose fibres, which open and disperse as the leaf expands. The young leaf is also armed at the extremity with a long back spine or thorn; they are more stiff and firmer than the leaves of any other tree. The fibrous character of the stem, composed of the roots of leaves, renders the trunk useless as timber (indeed it cannot be called timber), but very valuable for other purposes.