216 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



awarded to any one who, having found one of these nuts on the shore, 

 failed to make it over to his sovereign. The kernel was the part sup- 

 posed to possess miraculous medicinal qualities, and with it were mixed 

 such anomalous ingredients as pounded antlers of deer, ebony-raspings, 

 and red-coral dust. 



At the present day, when these cocoa-nuts are exported from the 

 Seychelles Islands, cups made from the shells are mounted by the 

 wealthy natives of India with gold and precious stones ; the religious 

 mendicants of Ceylon also set a high value on the shells, and use them 

 as alms-boxes to attract the contributions of the faithful. 



The palm bearing the common cocoa-nut attains, in situations 

 favorable to its growth, a height of from 60 to 80 feet, but rarely 

 exceeds a diameter, at the base, of from one to two feet. The rough- 

 ness of the bark is caused by the progressive falling off of the fronds, 

 as the tree shoots upward. But this roughness and the crookedness 

 of the tree (for a straight palm is rare indeed) are compensated by 

 the beauty of the foliage of the crown. " Here," says Mr. Lord, " the 

 graceful, fern-like leaves may be seen in every stage of development 

 the lower tiers drooping, those above spreading out feather-like, while 

 the centre stands up plume-like in all its beauty." The nuts grow in 

 clusters, and the number on one tree varies from 40 to 200 in different 

 stages of development. The " spathes," which are thrown up among 

 the young leaves of the cocoa-palm, and on which grow the blossoms, 

 are often nearly four feet in length and six inches in circumference. In 

 favorable seasons these spathes or plumes of flowers are shot forth 

 every four or five weeks, and as the blossoms drop off the young nuts 

 are formed, affording a store of food and drink all the year round. 

 When the sap of the palm is sought for the manufacture of toddy, or 

 some other products, the young fronds, together with the flower-spathe, 

 are bound together with ligatures, in order to prevent the development 

 of the blossoms ; a puncture is then made at the foot of the spathe with 

 a toddy-knife, and numerous taps administered to the part adjoining 

 the cut, with the handle, to set the sap flowing ; a chatty, or earthen 

 pot, is then suspended in a suitable position to receive the cool, sweet 

 juice of the tree. 



To ascend the lofty palm various methods are employed, and often 

 has the writer watched the agile natives swarming up with rapidity 

 by inserting the great-toe into a series of notches cut into the bark. 

 Another method is by casting a band round both tree and toddy- 

 drawer, who then plants the soles of the feet against the trunk, and 

 literally walks up, " hand over fist." They also traverse the space 

 between the top of the trees on coir-ropes, thrown across from one to 

 the other. Early in the morning, before the sun is up, the toddy- 

 drawer with monkey-like agility ascends the tree, lowers down his 

 well-filled pot, which is received by a companion, who replaces it by 

 an empty one. From one to three Quarts is the general result of one 



