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15. In Florida the palmetto is very abundant, growing best in moist swampy situations, where are found the finest and tallest specimens, some of them attaining a height of more than a hundred feet. It is fond, too, of the seashore, where the trees may be seen growing plentifully in the white sand of the beach, just at the very edge of high

water.

16. The palmetto is a very beautiful tree, and is that kind of a palm which has fan-shaped leaves, whilst the cocoa-nut is of that group of palms which have pinnated leaves. The palmetto is perhaps the hardiest of all the palms. The visitor in Florida is surprised to see with what indifference it endures the piercing cold northwest winds that sweep over that peninsula in winter; and while frost covers the land, the palmetto cheerily waves its broad fans on high, and smilingly greets the rising sun.

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Is it the palm, the cocoa-palm,

On the Indian sea by the isles of balm ?
Or is it a ship in the breezeless calm ?

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What are its jars, so smooth and fine,

But hollowed nuts, filled with oil and wine,
And the cabbage that ripens under the Line?

The master he sits on a palm-mat soft,
From a beaker1 of palm his drink is quaffed,
And a palm-thatch shields from the sun aloft.
His dress is woven of palmy strands,

And he holds a palm-leaf scroll in his hands,
Traced with the Prophet's wise commands.

The turban folded about his head

Was daintily wrought of the palm-leaf braid,
And the fan that cools him of palm was made.

Of threads of palm was the carpet spun
Whereon he kneels when the day is done,
And the foreheads of Islam 3 are bowed as one!

To him the palm is a gift divine,
Wherein all uses of man combine,-

House, and raiment, and food, and wine.

And, in the hour of his great release,
His need of the palm shall only cease
With the shroud wherein he lieth in peace.

"Allah il Allah!"4 he sings his psalm, On the Indian sea, by the isles of balm; "Thanks to Allah who gives the palm!"

1 beak'er, goblet.

WHITTIER.

2 the Prophet, Mohammed.

3 Islam, inhabitants of Mohammedan countries. 4 Allah il Allah, Allah is God.

32. THE RELATIONSHIP OF ANIMALS.

ac-ces'so-ry, that which belongs to
something else as its principal.
ce-tā'cean [-shan], an animal of the
whale kind.

con-tin-u'i-ty, unbroken connection.
crus-ta'ce-an [-she-], the class of ani-

mals including lobsters, crabs, etc. mam'mal, pl. mam'mals or mammā'li-a, an animal characterized by the female suckling its young.

mol'lusk, an animal without back

bone, but having a soft fleshy body. pol'yp, an aquatic animal of the radiate type.

rep'tile, an animal that crawls, or moves by small short legs.

typ'i-cal, relating to a type or large group.

ver'te-brate, an animal having an internal jointed skeleton.

1. THE studies of naturalists have led to the arrangement of animals in a sort of scale of being. At the head of all creatures stands man. Closely following come what do you suppose? The apes; and after the apes, the monkeys.

2. Not so intelligent as the monkeys, the sad-eyed lemurs come next in order. There is a plain gradation of these lemurs, strongly monkey-like on the one extreme, and bat-like on the other; and to these naturally succeed the bats themselves.

3. Then come all the quadrupeds. But by quadrupeds is not meant such creatures as turtles, lizards, or frogs, which, although they have four legs, partake of the nature of creeping things, and have been classed with reptiles. They do not walk clear of the ground, and they lay eggs, and the young are hatched from those eggs; whereas with quadrupeds it is quite different: their young are born, not hatched into the world.

4. With the quadrupeds are classed-strange to saya set of creatures that have no legs at all, certainly not to walk with. Their legs, if legs they can be called, are fins

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to swim with, and look like fins; and indeed the animals themselves look very much like fishes and live in the sea. These animals are called cetaceans. The whale, by far the largest animal in the world, the seal, the true dolphin, and some others like them, are cetaceans, not fishes. Their young are not hatched from eggs, but are born. And not only that, but the mother-whale, and the mother-seal, and the mother-dolphin, and all the other cetaceous mothers, nurse their young. The whale with her arm-fins holds the young one to her breast that it may partake of the nourishing milk. But does any fish ever do this? Fishes do not nourish their young, but lay eggs in some suitable place, and let them hatch of themselves. A fish has cold blood, but the cetaceans have warm blood. peds. So has man.

So have all quadru

5. Because the cetaceans suckle their young they are called mammals. So also the young of all quadrupeds are nourished by the mother. Therefore they, too, are called mammals. The child is nourished by its mother. Man, therefore, is also classed with the mammals. And all the mammals together are called the mammalia.

6. The mammalia are placed at the head of all kinds of animals; yet it must be owned that insects, which have their place far down in the scale, show an intelligence not only in building themselves good homes, but in providing for their young, far surpassing that of any mammal,— man alone excepted. It is true the beaver is a very good architect, and his work stands out in bold relief against the background of stupidity or indifference shown by all other quadrupeds. As for the monkeys, which hardly know whether they are four-handed or four-footed, and pass their whole lives trying to stand on two feet, did any one of

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