It is formed of nothing more than a number of leaf stalks rolled one over the other, and grows sometimes to a thickness of two feet.
Two gigantic leaves grow out from the top, ten feet long and two feet broad. They are so very thin and tender that a light wind splits them into ribbons.
From the center of the leaves a very strong stalk rises up, which supports the cluster of bananas. There are sometimes over one hundred bananas to a single stalk.
A cluster of ripe bananas will weigh from sixty to seventy pounds, and represents a large amount of food. When a stalk has produced and ripened its fruit, it begins to wither and soon dies.
In a very short time, however, new sprouts spring up from the old root, and ere long the native has another cluster. So rapidly do they follow each other, that one cluster is scarcely consumed before another one is ready to ripen.
Bananas ripened on the stalk will not bear transportation to any great distance; therefore, when selected for export, the clusters are cut off while the bananas are very green.
Another valuable fruit of the tropics is the date. This fruit grows on a tree called the date-palm, that is found in both Asia and Africa.
The date-palm is a majestic tree, rising to the height of sixty feet or more, without branches, and with a trunk of uniform thickness throughout its entire length.
It begins to bear fruit about eight years after it has been planted, and continues to be productive from seventy to one hundred years.
Dates are oval in shape, and have a long solid stone. They form the principal food of the inhabitants of some of the eastern countries, and are an important article of commerce.