THE OCEAN SHORE 



holes are overgrown ; beneath the third Hes the germ of the nut. 

 From it the white substance of the nut spreads over the inside of 

 the shell, forming a lining as thick as the finger ; this is the nourish- 

 ment provided for the germ (the endosperm). When the nut is 

 unripe the layer of fibres is still white and the hard shell as yet 

 unformed, and then one can slash a hole in the husk with a knife, 

 and pour out of the nut from half to three-quarters of a pint of 

 a cool, almost clear liquid, which has a sweet, nutty flavour. This 

 is an admirable and wholesome beverage, and there are coconut- 

 palms which are cultivated merely for the sake of this liquid. As 

 the nut ripens the liquid becomes oilier and milkier, and less 

 abundant, so that an air-space is left, which would enable the nut 

 to float even without the husk. It is in this state that the nut is 

 imported into Europe, and the admirable beverage yielded by the 

 unripe nut cannot be compared with the remnant of "milk" left 

 in the nuts as we receive them. 



If the floating nut is cast upon the shore, the action of the sea- 

 water and the pounding of the breakers destroy the fibrous husk. 

 The germ pushes forth into the heart of the nut a special suctorial 

 organ, by means of which it draws building material from the 

 hollow kernel and water from the "milk," and this fresh water, 

 which it could not find upon the beach, is of great importance for 

 the embryo tree. Then the germ grows outwards from the hole in 

 the shell, and in course of time becomes a palm-tree, which after 

 five years begins to bear more nuts, and continues to bear them up to 

 its seventieth or eightieth year. 



Where was the first home of the coconut-palm? — We are not yet 

 quite certain. According to Warburg, it should be sought in Central 

 America, for in Panama there are still extant virgin forests of 

 coconut-palms. Crossing the Pacific Ocean, it seems then to have 

 colonized Polynesia, Southern Asia, and finally East Africa. It is 

 believed to have been first planted by man in South Africa and 

 Brazil, though there are investigators who believe that the palm 

 is indigenous to Brazil, and the Dutchman Laet, two hundred years 

 after the discovery of Brazil, reckoned it among the wild trees 

 which were found outside the cultivated areas, and in regions 

 remote from the villages of the Indians. And it was only about 

 this period that the nut-bearing trees of the Old World were imported 

 into Brazil. 



The coconut-palm is to-day ubiquitous on the Brazilian coast 

 as far south as the State of Espirito Santo, and in small numbers, 



39 



