feet in height. Near the roots it is forty-five feet in circumference, and its branches spread themselves out and divide again, like a candelabrum. It was growing in the fifteenth century, when the Spaniards first landed in the Island, and though part of it has fallen away, yet it still lives, and is likely to be in existence many years longer.

The resinous sap of this gigantic tree is called, like the gum produced by some species of palm, "dragon's blood," on account of its red colour.

"It is not growing like a tree

In bulk; doth make man better be;

Or standing long, an oak three hundred years,
To fall a log at last-dry, bald, and sear:

A lily of a day,

Is fairer far in May;

Although it fall and die that night,
It was the plant and flower of light.

Chapter the Twenty-second.

THE PINE-APPLE AND THE WILD PINES.

THE third division* of the lilies is named from the pine-apple,t one of the finest and most delicious fruits in the world. It is a native of Brazil, where it grows in every kind of soil, and is so abundant, that according to some travellers, it has been used for feeding pigs.

In the island of Barbadoes, a very delicious wine is obtained from the pine-apple. An old herbalist tells us that there is no drink on earth to be compared to it, and he believes it must have been the nectar of the gods. It is made by pressing out and straining the pure juice of the fruit, and then allowing it to ferment; no mixture of water or any thing else is permitted, and in three or four days it is quite clear and ready to be used.

The science of gardening is now carried to

Bromeliaceæ.

+ Bromelia ananas.

such perfection, that the pine-apple reared in England is even superior to the original fruit. One has been known to measure twenty-two inches in circumference, and to weigh as much as ten pounds. It was thought so splendid that it was presented to his majesty, king George the Fourth, and served up in the dessert at the coronation banquet.

Pine-apples are grown in the fields in America, and the West Indies, in the same manner that turnips are with us, and they are sent over here in such abundance as to be often sold in London, at the corners of the streets, for a penny a slice,

One plant of the species, growing in Brazil, is invaluable to the natives. The fibres of the leaves make excellent twine; and the fishermen, who live upon the banks of the river San Francisco, weave their nets of it, and manufacture it into very strong cordage. The plant has no stem, and the leaves are few and rise from the root. They are sometimes six feet in length, and are composed of two segments, the outer one convex and the inner one concave. The one on the outside is much the thickest and hardest, and between them lie a number

* B. Variegata.

of fibres, the same length as the leaf, and imbedded in a juicy pulp. When the fibres are going to be used for twine, they are separated either by beating or by cutting the leaf open, and pulling them out with the hand.

Many miles of ground are covered with this plant, and it grows in such wild luxuriance, that it is quite impossible for the traveller to make his way through. Indeed many of the pine apple tribe seem made on purpose for fences, and in Mexico and the warm parts of South America, are put to that use. The leaves are long and sword-shaped, and have their edges armed with exceedingly sharp-hooked spines. Those on the upper half of the leaf curve towards the intruder, as if to forbid his approach; but should he be so bold as to push his way in spite of them, he will find himself in a very awkward predicament. The spines on the other side of the leaf, which curve the other way, will prevent his getting back, and he cannot escape without being torn almost to pieces.

The little negro villages in our West India Islands, are often hidden in some secluded nook, and the only way of approach to them is by a narrow and winding path. Indeed, so com

pletely are they shut out from the high road, that you might pass close by without being aware of their existence. But should you wish to find them, you would have some difficulty in treading your way through the maze of pinquin, one of the fence-like plants of which I am speaking, and that completely hems them in. If the pinquin happened to be in flower, you would be delighted with its lovely blossoms, for the central leaves are of the most brilliant vermillion, and the thick spike of flowers is of a delicate pink. These are succeeded by a dense head of hard woody capsules, not joined together like the pine apple, but separate, though closely packed. They contain an acid juice, which is pleasant to moisten the lips, but acrid and burning if taken in any quantity.

There is a curious plant that grows in the woods of tropical America, and hangs down from the trees like long dry beards, or tufts of ragged hair. It is a species of wild pine, and is called the "Old man's beard."

The natives gather it for the sake of the tough black filaments contained within its stems, and which are used to stuff cushions, mattresses,

*Tillandsia usneoides.