Miscellaneous. 423 



capacious shell. It is stated that as much as four hundred pounds 

 sterling have actually been paid for a single nut. 



The colonization of the Seychelles Archipelago by the French un- 

 der M. de la Bourdonnais, the talented and patriotic governor of 

 Mauritius, set the matter at rest. The Cocos de Mer was found 

 growing in the islands of Praslin and Curieuse, whose mountains 

 were abundantly covered with this stupendous plant. It is a palm, 

 and like several other members of that family, the male and female 

 flowers are found on different individuals v Its stem rises to the 

 height of from 90 to 100 feet, and is crowned with the most superb 

 leaves that can be imagined, which form a kind of pent-house around 

 it as impervious to water as if covered by a roof. 



The leaves exactly resemble in form those of the fan-palm, but 

 their dimensions are vastly superior. There are many of them that, 

 measured from the base of the stem, are 20 feet in length, and their 

 ample folds cover a width of from 10 to 12 feet. It is not till it has 

 attained the age of from 20 to 25 years that it begins to bear. The 

 enormous drupes, hanging in clusters of four or five, are so heavy, 

 that a plant of less strength would give way beneath a single bunch, 

 and they hang three or four years before they are ripe enough to 

 fall. Thus although only one fruit branch is put forth in the year, 

 the produce of three or four seasons burdens the stem at a time, the 

 aggregate weight of which is very considerable. 



Description cannot do justice to the beauty of these forests, nor 

 convey an adequate idea of the singular fruit they furnish. The 

 nuts are mostly double ; but triple, quadrujile, and sometimes, though 

 very rarely, quintuple specimens are found. When green they con- 

 tain a sweetish jelly-like substance of a refreshing quality. But 

 when ripe the kernel is as hard as dry beach wood, quite white, and 

 of a somewhat silky grain. They are left in a marshy spot to rot, 

 a process which requires six or eight months before the shell can be 

 emptied. They are applied to various uses, being very strong and 

 light. Simply bored at the end they serve as very convenient buckets 

 and kegs, which are in general use among all the inhabitants of the 

 group of islands in which they are found ; many of them hold up- 

 wards of three gallons. Many thousands of the shells, sawed in half, 

 are sent to Mauritius and Bourbon, where they are universally em- 

 ployed by the blacks for holding food and water ; they form also the 

 best vessels that can be devised for baling out boats. The leaves 

 are as good a covering for a house as shingles ; a roof well thatched 

 with them lasts ten years without any repair. They are also em- 

 ployed, when young and white, for a great many purposes ; hats, 



