. Would you not? Yes. I am sure of it. Now I could tell
you a great deal about palms if I _would_; and I would, too, if my space
and time allowed me, but neither will, alas! Why, if I were only to give
you even the shortest and dryest botanic description of all the
different palms that are known to us, that mere dry catalogue would fill
a book as big as this one!

How many species do you think there are? Up to this time you have
thought, perhaps, there was only one, and that was _the palm-tree
itself_. Maybe you have heard of more, such as the sago-palm, the
cocoa-nut palm, the date-palm, or the cabbage-palm; and you fancied
there might be others--perhaps as many as a dozen! Now you will hardly
credit me when I tell you that we know of no less than _six hundred
species of palms_, all differing from each other! I may add, further,
that it is my belief that there exist on the earth as many more--that
is, the enormous number of twelve hundred.

The reason why I entertain this belief is, that in all cases where
similar guesses have been hazarded--whether with regard to plants, or
birds, or _mammalia_--they have eventually proved far below the mark;
and as the palm countries are the very regions of the earth least known
and least explored by botanists, it is but reasonable to conclude that
great numbers of species have never yet been described, nor even seen.
Another fact which strengthens this probability is, that peculiar
species of palms are sometimes found only in a limited district, and
nowhere else in the same country. A small river even sometimes forms the
boundary-line of a species; and although whole groves may be seen on the
one side, not a tree of the same sort grows on the other. Some botanists
even prognosticate that more than two thousand species of palms will yet
become known.

Of the six hundred species known, about half belong to the Old World,
and half to America. In America they are chiefly found growing on the
Continent--although several species are natives of the West India
Islands--while on the Eastern hemisphere the greatest number of species
belong to the islands.

I might tell you a great deal of the importance of these noble trees to
the human race, for they are as useful as they are beautiful. Almost
every sort has its particular use in the economy of human life. Not only
do they serve certain purposes in Africa, Asia, America, and Oceanica,
but in all these divisions of the earth there are who