Page 233 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

232 THIRD BOOK OF
eight months of the year. The natives of these islands collect it without the smallest trouble; they have only to climb the trees to gather its uit. A kind of oth is bricated om the bark; the leaves are converted into towels and wrappers; the wood is made into boats and houses, and a kind of cement is prepared by boiling the juice in cocoa-nut oil.
3. Nearly every part of the date-tree may be con­ verted to some use l purpose. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, of Persia, subsist almost entirely on its uit, and it is a o es­ teemed r its medicinal virtues. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, mats, bags, and brushes; from the branches, cages and nces; om the bres of the boughs, thread, ropes, and rigging; from the · sap, a spirituous liquor; om the wood, which also rnishes el, the beams and rafters of houses, as well as some implements of husbandry, are con­ structed. The stones are ground to make oil, and the re se is given to the cattle. The shell of the uit of the calabash is employed in the manu cture of water-vessels, goblets, and cups of almost every description. So hard and close-grained is the cala­ bash, that, when it contains any kind of uid, it may even, it is said, be put on the re without injury. A medicinal juice is extracted om this use l plant; and of it the Indians construct some of their musical instruments.
LESSON IX.
USES OF TREES AND PLANTS (CONTINUED).
1. THE cocoa-nut-tree supplies the inhabitants of the countries in which it grows, with bread, milk,