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.
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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- |