a simple brought from the East Indies, of considerable use in diet as a reformatory. It is produced from a species of palm-tree growing spontaneously in the East Indies without any culture. It rises to the height of about 20 or 30 feet; its circumference being sometimes from five to six. Its ligneous bark is about an inch in thickness, and covers a multitude of long fibres; which, being interwoven one with another, envelope a mass of a gummy kind of meal. As soon as this tree is ripe, a whitish dust, which transpires through the pores of the leaves, and adheres to their extremities, proclaim its maturity. The Malais then cut them down near the root, divide them into several sections, which they split into quarters: they then scoop out the mass of mealy substance, which is enveloped by and adheres to the fibres; they dilute it in pure water, and then pass it through a straining bag of fine cloth, in order to separate it from the fibres. When this paste has lost part of its moisture by evaporation, the Malais throw it into a kind of earthen vessels, of different shapes, where they allow it to dry and harden. This paste is wholesome nourishing food, and preserves for many years.