80 DK. B. SPRUCE ON EQUATORIAL-AMEUTCAl^ PALMS. 



coast of Guayana, Moriche" in Venezuela, "Miriti" in Brazil, 

 " Achual" and ^'Aguashi" in Peru. 



§ 7. The Cultivated Palms of Eqiiaiorial America. 



In the course of my South- American travel I have seen only 

 two Palms cultivated to any extent, viz, the common Cocoa-nut 

 Palm {Cocas niicifera, L.) and the Peach Palm {Bacfris Gasipa^s^ 

 H., B., K., ^=^Guilielmia speciosa^ Mart.). 



It is curious that, of the earliest Spanish writers on the natural 

 history of tKe New World, those who knew only the eastern side 

 of tlie continent, the West-Indian Islands, and Mexico, such as 

 Hernandez and Oviedo, assert that the Coco Palm was introduced 

 into America hy the Spanish settlers ; while those who were fa- 

 miliar with the Pacific coast, including some of the earliest tra- 

 vellers in Peru, such as Cieza de Leon, say positively that it was 

 already found growing on that coast, especially in the equatorial 

 regions, when the Spaniards first arrived there. It is possible that 

 all spoke truly, according to their knowledge, and that, although 

 this palm may be indigenous only to the islands of the Pacific 

 Ocean, it had really reached the western coast of America, either 

 by accident or design, long before the advent of the white man. 



Velasco, in his eagerness to vindicate his country's claim to the 

 " Hatun-Chonta,'' or Great Palm, as the Indians call it, gets very 

 angry with those who dispute it. " One may see," he says, " with 

 what levity some authors relate a thousand falsehoods, like Fran- 

 cisco Hernandez, a native of Mexico, who in his Latin history as- 

 serts that Cocos were transplanted from the East to the West 

 Indies by the Spaniards ; whereas on their first arrival they found 

 Cocos laden with fruit, which is never seen on stems less than 

 from IG to 20 years old "*. 



The cultivation of the Cocoa-nut is limited to the regions bor- 

 dering the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As we ascend the Ama- 

 zon it gradually becomes sterile. At Manaos, 800 miles up, the 

 fruits appear fully formed externally, but are invariably empty. 

 At San Carlos del Rio Negro, almost exactly midway between the 

 two oceans, there were, in 1S54, two well-grown Coco Palms whicH 

 had never even flowered. 



The second palm, cultivated in the regions of the Amazon and 



* Hist. Nat. de Quito, p. 54. nemanclez, * Plantavum, Animahiim, &c., Megi- 

 canoruni Ilistoria,' lib. iii.cap, 40. 



