India is also the native country and home-land of the Indigo plants (_Indigofera tinctoria_, and _Indigofera anil_, of the Leguminosæ family), and the _Gossypiums_, from whose expanded fruits is obtained the all-powerful cotton; and in Cochin-China we meet with the _Croton sebiferum_ or _Stillingia sebifera_ (family of the Euphorbiaceæ), whose berries contain a rich concrete substance called "tree-tallow," employed, in the far East, in the manufacture of tapers. The latter tree, popularly known as the "Tallow Tree," has rhomboid leaves, with two prominent glands at the point of attachment between the stalk and the leaf; and its flower catkins are from two to four inches long. "Its fruits contain three seeds thickly coated with a fatty substance which yields the tallow. This is obtained by steaming the seeds in large caldrons, and then bruising them sufficiently to loosen the fat without breaking the seeds, which are removed by sifting. The fat is afterwards made into flat circular cakes, and pressed in a wedge-press, when the pure tallow exudes in a liquid state, and soon hardens into a white brittle mass. This tallow is very extensively used for candle-making in China; but as the candles made of it become soft in hot weather, they generally receive a coating of insect wax. A liquid oil is obtained from the seeds by pressing. The tree yields a hard wood used by the Chinese for printing blocks, and its leaves are employed for dyeing black."[164] Climbing and epiphytous[165] plants are very numerous in India; but there are none, perhaps, which in vegetative force and tenacity can be compared to those of the _Calamus_, and particularly of the _Calamus rotang_ (family of the _Palmaceæ_). These Lianas are all remarkable for their flexible stem, which attaches itself to the trees, and frequently attains the prodigious length of 200, 250, 300, and even 350 yards. This stem is formed of a series of internodes, or jointed pieces, more or less wide apart, each of which bears a leathery flower, with elongated sheath. The Calami frequently render the forests which they inhabit virtually impenetrable, through their long, flexible, and tenacious arms, stretching across from tree to tree, or crawling over the ground, and bristling with formidable thorns. It is these stems which are imported into Europe as bamboos, cut into different lengths, and there employed for various industrial purposes. But it is time we took our leave of India, and allowed "observation with extensive view" to survey the far-spreading African forests. There, in the first place, we are called upon to salute the patriarch of the tropical Flora, the _Baobab_ (_Adansonia digitata_), a gigantic genus of the family _Bombaceæ_. [Illustration: 1. Baobab. 2. Elæis Guinensis, or Guinea Palm. 3. Acacia verek.]