Note 275 — APPENDIX.

Excepting in times of famine, the food which may be thus obtained causes too much destruction to allow of its becoming general, and even if it should for a time afford subsistence to the people, this cannot last long, for the trees will soon be destroyed. The quantity of food which each tree yields is too small, the growth of the trees too slow, and the space which each plant occupies too considerable ever to render the cabbage of the palms a permanent staple food of any country.