Excellent natural pottery is manufactured by nature in the case
of a certain cactus. Woodpeckers are apt to excavate nests in
the trunk and branches, and, in order that it may protect itself
against these incursions, the plant exudes a sticky juice, which
hardens, forming a woody lining to the hole made by the birds.
Eventually the cactus dies and withers away, but the wooden bowl
remains.
As a weaver, nature is an exceedingly neat worker. Certain
tree-barks and leaves furnish excellent cloth, such as, for
instance, the famous tapa cloth used in the South Sea islands.
Nature is also a glass-maker. By discharging lightning into beds
of quartz sand she forms exquisite little pipes of glass.
Nature does a bit in the rope-making line, too. These products
of her handicraft may be seen in the shape of various tropical
vines and creepers; and her skill as a lace-maker may be seen
in the case of the lace-tree of the West Indies.--_Harper’s
Weekly._
(2162)
=Nature’s Forgiveness=--See RESTORATION IN NATURE.