COOK—THE COCONUT PALM IN AMERICA. 287 
like Oviedo, Acosta, and Hernandez, and merit the high commen- 
dations bestowed by Clements R. Markham, who translated Cieza’s 
writings.” 
The statement of Cieza de Leon regarding coconuts is as follows: 
The site is twenty-three leagues from the city of Cartago, twelve from the 
town of Anzerma, and one from the great river, ona plain between two small rivers, 
and is sorrounded@y great palm trees, which are different from those I have already 
described, though more useful, for very savoury palmitos are taken from them, and 
their fruit is also savoury, for when it is broken with stones, milk flows out, and they 
even make a kind of cream and butter from it, which they use for lighting lamps. 
I have seen that which I now relate, and it all comes within my own experience. 
The site of this town is considered rather unhealthy, but the land is very fertile.6 
Velasco, in writing of the palms of the same region over two 
hundred years later, identifies Cieza’s reference and applies it to the 
variety of coconut called vira chonta or ‘butter palm.” It may 
be doubted whether this is the true coconut palm or a distinct species 
which has been called Cocos butyracea. 
To treat butyracea as a distinct species does not render it any less 
interesting, either from the botanical or the agricultural side. If the 
interior of Colombia affords other species of Cocos that are distinct 
from Cocos nucifera and yet closely related to it the question of 
origin will be still more definitely answered, and the diversity of 
types available for introduction to other parts of the world will 
appear still greater. It is evident, however, that Velasco con- 
sidered his vira chonta only as a variety of the coconut palm, since 
he includes it with three other varieties. Velasco’s account of the 
coconut palms of Colombia, written about 1789, but not published till 
1844, appears to contain more original information than any other 
statement on the subject. It is evident that he took special interest 
in the palms as a group, since he describes numerous species in 
detail, with their native names and uses. The parts relating io the 
coconut palms may be translated as follows: 
There are more than fifty different species of palms, all with the generic name 
Chonta. .. . The fruit, in the language of Peru is called ruru and in that of Quito 
lulum, which means egg; acc vordingly the fruit of any sort of palm j is called chontaruro. 
a “The work of Pedro de: Ci ieza de Leon is, in many respec ts, one of the 1 most re mark- 
able literary productions of the age of Spanish conquest in America. Written by a 
man who had passed his life in the camp from early boyhood, it is conceived on a 
plan which would have done credit to the most thoughtful scholar, and is executed 
with care, judgment, and fidelity. ... In arrangement, in trustworthiness, in 
accuracy, and in the value of his observations, the work of Cieza de Leon stands 
higher than that of any contemporary chronicler: and these qualities in his book 
are enhanced by the romantic life and noble disposition of its author.’’—The Travels 
of Pedro de Cieza de Leon, trans. by C. R. Markham, pp. 1, Lv of the introduction, 
(Hakluyt Society, 1864.) 
bOp. cit., p. 68. 
