habit and in structure they resemble the ferns, in
their blossom the grasses, and the asparigi in their
mode of fructification But no trees are so portly
and magnificent as the palms. They present a
straight column, perfectly cylindrical, crowned
at the summit with a vast load of sprightly leaves,
arranged in circles over one another, and put
forth from their common receptacle large panicles,
partially inclosed in ample sheaths, and loaded
with flowers and with fruit. But their majestic
appearance is their least merit. Their beauty is
surpassed by their usefulness. The external
layers of the trunk furnish a hard and heavy wood,
which may be formed into planks and stakes.
The sheaths which contain the clusters of fruit
acquire such thickness and consistence that they
are often used as vessels. The large leaves are
employed for roofing wigwams and cottages. Ma-
terials for wadding, flock, and cordage, are fur-
nished by the fibrous pericarp of the cocoa-tree,
by the leaf stalks of several other species, and by
the filamentous tissue which, in all of them, covers
the trunk. Of these are made ropes, cables, and
even sail-cloth, and they are used as oakum in
caulking vessels. The leaves of the Macaw tree
(latinier) serve for fans to the Indian fair ones;
those of the Borassus fiabelliformis furnish para-
sols which can cover ten people at a time. The
leaves of some palms are used for writing on :
the shell of the cocoa-nut supplies us with a na-
tural cup. This order of trees furnishes a number
of excellent dishes. The sweet and pulpy sub-
stance surrounding the shells of some is eaten and
pressed in a variety of forms : such are the Artca
catechu and the Phoenix dactylifera. In some, as
the cocoa-nut, the perisperm or cotyledonous
matter, while in others, as the cabbage palm, or
Areca oleracm, the terminal leaf-bud is used as a
pot-herb. The milky liquid contained in the
large cavity of the cocoa-nut is capable of being
converted into wine, vinegar, and alcohol. From
the same fruit a good oil is procured.

Another family of nutritious trees enjoyed by
the Oceanian nations is that of the Artocarpi or
bread-fruit trees This valuable genus rises to a
height of forty feet. Its trunk acquires the thick-
ness of the human body. The fruit is as large as

a chief.xc2xab head. Gathered before it is fully ripe,
and baked am-¹ eg ashes, it becomes a wholesome
bread, resemol.cg fresh wheaten bread in taste.
For a period of eight months, this tree yields its
fruit in such profusion, that three of them will
support a man far a year. The inner bark of the
same tree is manufactured into a kind" of cloth,
'ts wood is well adapted for building cottages and
eanoes. Its leaves are used as napkins ; its glu-
tinous and milky juice furnishes good cement and
glue.

The inhabitants of Oceanica seem to be refera-
ble to two stocks, totally distinct both in physiog-
nomy and in language; the Malays, or Ye k
Oceanians, and the Oceanian Negroes.

The Malays are no longer considered by the
learned as having originally come from the pen-
insula of Malacca : it is now understood that it
was not till a comparatively recent period that
they became inhabitants of that country. Their
national historians trace their origin to the island
of Sumatra; they also describe them as connect-
ed with the Javanese; but we find them at pre-
sent extending over numerous countries. Not
only ard all the inhabitants of the maritime parts
of Borneo, Celebes, Luzon, and the Moluccas, of
the Malay race ; but the innumerable tribes ol
Polynesia, or eastern Oceanica, seem to have the
same origin. Although the Marians are 5,500 m.
from Easter Island, and though Owyhee is at
nearly an equal distance from New Zealand, we
have a collection of facts, authenticated by the
concurring testimony of numerous observers,
whidh force us to regard the families disseminated
over this wide region as having a common origin

The islanders have tawny complexions, varying
a little in the different tribes, independently ot
any ascertainable circumstances in their habits of
life or their climate. The fairest are generally in
the most westerly regions ; some of them, as the
Battas of Sumatra, are directly under the equator.
The hair of the head is long, iank, rough, and al-
ways black. The hair of the beard, and in gen-
eral of every part except the head, is scanty
They are in the practice of plucking out that of
the beard in their youth. The Mahometan priests,
affecting to wear long beards, cultivate them to
the best of their power, but not with so much
success as to escape ridicule. Their persons are
short, squat, and robust; their lower limbs some-
what large, but not ill-formed. The busts of the
females are much inferior injgymmetry to those
ofthe women of Indostan. The face is round
the mouth wide, the teeth remarkably good, the
chin square, the cheek bones high, the cheeks
rather hollow. The nose is short and small, never
prominent, but netfer flat; the eyes are small, and
like those of other Orientals, always black. They
are an ill-looking people compared to the Arabs,
Birmans, and Siamese. .They are less handsome-
ly formed than the Chinese, but have much better
features.

Differences in colour and in the appearance
of the hair have been observed between the
great and the common people in Otaheite, which
led Forster to believe that a Malay colony had
subdued in these islands some prior negro tribes,
of the race which inhabits New Guinea and New
Holland. But others may, with some probability,
ascribe this difference to habit and diet, as the
great live on the flesh of quadrupeds, and the
common people chiefly on fish.

The similarity of the languages, as exhibited in
the very imperfect vocabularies given by Forster
Father Gobien, Marsden, and others, is strongly
marked. The inhabitants of eastern Oceanica
speak the same language in different dialects, and
this presents a singular analogy to that of the
Malays, particularly that spoken in Sumatra.

OclLsenfurt, a town of Bavarian Franconia,
seated on the Maine, 10 m. S. E. of Wurtzburg.

Ochsenhausen, a town of Wurtemberg, capital
of a petty principality (formerly the territory of
a rich abbey), which was given to prince Met-
ternich in 1803. 14 m. S. of Ulm.

Ocracoke Inlet, the entrance to Pamlico Sound,
In N. Carolina, 7 leagues S. W. of Caoe Hatte-