Note 2 — Chapter VII · THE LLANOS OF COLOMBIA
Reading edition
“Homo habitat inter tropicos, vescitur palmis, lotophagus; hospitatur extra tropicos sub novercante Cerere carnivorus.”—Systema Naturæ, Vol. I, p. 24.
Besides the fruit-yielding palms there are others, like the palmetto or cabbage Palm, that also afford nutritious food. “The head of the Palmito tree,” says Hakluyt, “is very good meate, either raw or sodden; it yeeldeth a head which waigheth about twenty pound, and is far better than any cabbage.”—Early Voyages, Vol. V, p. 557. Schomburgk informs us that during his exploration of Guiana it was for weeks his chief sustenance. ↑