1221. Dates (_Phoenix dactylifera_), and cocoa (_Cocos nucifera_), belonging to the family _Palmæ_. The palms, remarkable for their elegant forms and importance to man, contribute more than any other trees to impress upon the vegetation of tropical and equinoctial countries its peculiar physiognomy. The date palm is a native of northern Africa, and is so abundant between the Barbary states and the Sahara, that the district has been named Biledul erid, the land of dates. As the desert is approached, the only objects that break the monotony of the landscape are the date palm, and the tent of the Arab. It accompanies the margin of the mighty desert in all its sinuosities from the shores of the Atlantic to the confines of Persia, and is the only vegetable affording subsistence to man that can grow in such an arid situation. The annual produce of an individual is from 150 to 260lbs. weight of fruit. The cocoa palm furnishes annually about a hundred cocoa-nuts. It is spread throughout the torrid zone; but occurs most abundantly in the islands of the Indian archipelago. The family of palms is supposed to contain a thousand species, some of large size, forming extensive forests. 1222. Cacao (_Theobrama cacao_), from the seeds of which chocolate is prepared, grows wild in central America, and is also extensively cultivated in Mexico, Guatemala, and on the coast of Cumana. 1223. Bread-fruit tree (_Artocarpus incisa_), a native of the South Sea Islands, and Indian archipelago, grows also in Southern Asia, and has been introduced into the tropical parts of America; but the fruit is not equal to the banana as an article of human food. [Verse: "And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment."--LUKE XXIV.] 1224. Coffee (_Coffea Arabica_). The bush has probably for its native region the Ethiopian Highlands, from whence it was taken in the fifteenth century to the Highlands of Yemen, the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. It has been introduced, and is now extensively cultivated in British India, Java, Ceylon, the Mauritius, Brazil, and the West Indies, but the quality is inferior, which makes the climate of the Mocha coffee district of importance, as peculiarly favourable to the plant. It grows there on hills described by Niebuhr as being soaked with rain every day from the beginning of June to the end of September, which is carefully collected for the purpose of irrigation during the dry season. Forskhal gives the following temperatures in the district: