Note 15 — Chapter XXVI · A new country discovered.—The troop of buffalos; a precious acquisition.

We now left the cavern. I had fastened the young buffalo to a tree near the cascade without remarking of what species it might be; when I went to release him, I saw that it was a kind of small palm-tree, and on looking about me I observed also some other kinds of the palm which I had not before met with15. One of the kinds I now remarked was from ten to twelve feet in height; its leaves were armed with thorns, and it bore a fruit resembling a small cucumber in form, but which at this time was immature, so that we could not taste it. The second, which was smaller, was also thorny; it was now in blossom, and had no fruit. I suspected that the first of these was the little royal palm, sometimes called awiva, or Adam’s needle; and the other, the dwarf palm. I resolved to avail myself of both for further fortifying my enclosure at Tent-House, and also to protect the outer side of the narrow pass immediately over the torrent of the cascade. I determined to return and plant a line of them there, as close to each other as the consideration of their growth would allow; for my intention, of course, was to effect this by means of the young shoots which presented themselves in great abundance; we also hoped by that time to find their fruit ripe, and to ascertain their kind.