MALAYAN CULTURAL VARIETIES. 275 
ORIGIN OF THE VARIETIES OF THE COCOANUT. 
The multitudinous uses and universal popularity of the cocoanut on 
the shores and islands of the Indian Ocean and in the Malay region 
generally have been interpreted hy DeCandolle, Seeman, and others 
as an indication of an Old World origin. If, however, the late appear- 
ance of the cocoanut in Ceylon be taken into consideration, it becomes 
apparent that the theory of an Asiatic origin is incompatible with that 
of distribution by ocean currents; for, if the maritime theory is to be 
upheld, origin at a great distance must be predicated in order to 
explain a comparatively recent arrival and a formerly more limited 
distribution in the Indian Ocean. And yet this concession does not 
greatly improve the situation, since we have excellent ground for 
believing that the cocoanut has existed for several millenniums in the 
‘slands to the southeast of Asia, or long enough to permit an extensive 
differentiation of varieties. 
As with our temperate fruits, the varieties of the cocoanut differ 
greatly in size, color, shape, and quality, and the trees also have vari- 
etal peculiarities. In one sort the divisions of the leaves are only 
imperfectly separated, a condition appearing in some of the more 
primitive relatives of the cocoanut. Some of the varieties appear to 
have been selected for special qualities, such as the flavor of the flesh, 
oil. or milk, or the abundance and ease of extraction of the fiber. 
In America the relatively small importance of the cocoanut has not 
secured for it the attention necessary to the recognition of differences 
between the fruits of individual trees and the consequent development 
of varieties by human selection, but in the Malay region more than 
fifty sorts are reported, with distinct names and characteristics. Varie- 
tal differentiation in a plant like the cocoanut may be expected to 
require much more time than with annual species, probably at least 
ten times as long. Moreover, if it he denied that the cocoanut varie- 
ties arose entirely through an active process of artificial selection, on 
the ground that considerable differences must have been attained before 
they would have been appreciated and utilized, the time requirement 
«s still further increased. But in any case the varieties were doubtless 
local at first, and their differentiation was probably favored by isola- 
tion in accordance with the general tendency among the palms to form 
series of similar species of limited distribution. That this process is 
well advanced among the cocoanuts of the Malay region would seem to’ 
indicate their presence there for several thousand years, and this fact 
is apparently incompatible with the late arrival of the species in Cey- 
lon, if the winds and currents operate with any approximation of their 
supposed efficiency. On the other and, it is quite conceivable under 
atheory of distribution by human agency that the cocoanut might have 
existed for an extremely long period in the Philippines and other 
