268 ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE COCOA PALM. 
noted by Hernandez, this remarkable suggestion seems to receive 
support from the fact that the cocobut plant has large spherical 
swellings near the roots. 
The statement of Hernandez, already quoted, that the Mexicans 
called the cocoanut **coyolli” is turned by De Candolle into an argu- 
ment against an American origin on the ground that the word coyld 
‘does not seem to be native,” though no attempt is made to indicate 
whence it was introduced; nor is the implication of an extra-American 
word met by the theory of maritime distribution. Yet if coyo//: was 
not an Aztec word it either did not come alone or it fell into very 
friendly society with dozens of others, like amolli, ylli, coyopath, 
cocotzin, chilli, quilamolli, copalli, and atolli. But a different objec- 
tion may be taken to coyol// as an Aztec name for the cocoanut. Tt is 
well known that the Aztecs came from the temperate plateau of Mex- 
ico and that their power had rather recently been extended to the 
tropical coast regions. 
It seems probable from the descriptions and figures of Hernandez 
that the coyolli was a native Mexican palm, probably Acrocomia, the 
fruit of which has the outer layer edible, oily, and yellow, so that 
Hernandez supposed it to be the same as the Areca or betel palm of 
the Philippine Islands, which is not known to have any similar name 
in the Eastern Hemisphere, while coyo//é is still current in southern 
Mexico and Guatemala for Aerocon sa mericuna. Although declaring 
that the Mexicans (Aztecs) called the cocoanut **coyvolli,” Hernandez 
distinctly says that he never saw any of the trees in New Spain. This, 
however, is not necessarily a discrepancy or an indication that Hernan- 
dez thought that the palm had been introduced by the Spaniards, since 
“Nova Hispania” was used by some of the early writers in a rather 
narrow sense for the Aztec! region of Mexico, and not for that coun- 
try as defined by its modern boundaries. But before this Hernandez 
had already said that the cocoa palm was generally distributed in the 
East and West Indies, and especially in maritime and sandy places 
about human habitations. He secured from travelers accounts of many 
Philippine plants and their uses, which seem to have been largely drawn 
upon in the present instance. But it must not be forgotten that even 
in his time the ** Indies” were still one-quarter of the world, for as 
Acosta quaintly says: 
. Wee meane by the Indies those rich countries which are farre off and strange 
unto us. So we Spaniards do indifferently call Indies the countries of Peru, Mexico, 
China, Malaca, and Bresil; and from what parts soever of these any letters come, 
wee say they bee from the Indies, which countries be farre distant and different one 
from another. 
1 According to Humboldt the Kingdom of Montezuma occupied only one-eighth of 
the territory of modern Mexico. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, 
vol. 1, p. 68 (New York, 1811). 
