73 



is not so detailed as that by Oviedo, yet it is at least of confirma- 

 tory interest. A free translation of a part of his description* 

 runs about as follows : 



"There is in this island [Espanola]. and commonly in all these 

 Indies, where the land is not cold but rather warm, trees that the 

 Indians of this island call ceybas, the letter y long, which are com- 

 monly so great and of such copiousness of branches and dense 

 leaves that they will give shade for 500 horses, and some will 

 cover much more ; it is a very magnificent, showy and graceful 

 tree ; its principal trunk has a thickness of more than three and 

 four oxen, and some are found, and 1 believe there is one on the 

 island of Guadeloupe, that 10 or 12 men with opened arms and 

 even with two pairs of breeches out-stretched could not encompass, 

 and I so affirm. * * * The mast or principal trunk before the 

 branches commence is two to three lances in height ; the first 

 branches commence not from below upward as in other trees, but 

 extend very straight out for such a distance that it seems marvel- 

 ous that they do not break with the weight that they carry, and it 

 is on this account that they are so capacious and make so much 

 shade ; these branches are commonly as thick as a man's body 

 * * * ; the leaves are dark green, delicate and toothed, t if 

 memory serves me well ; I do not know that there is in Castile 

 anything to which to compare them, unless it may be, if I am not 

 mistaken, those of what we call the tree of paradise." 



In view of the evidence of the kind quoted and of the various 

 corroborative traditions,^ it would appear that tropical America 

 has a good claim to being considered the native home of the silk- 

 cotton tree. Just what the direct evidence may be for Pickering's^ 

 unqualified assertion that the tree " by European colonists was 

 carried westward across the Pacific to the Philippines," and also 

 to India and Africa, we have been unable to discover, but the idea 

 seems plausible. Sir George Watt, in his " Dictionary of the 

 Economic Products of India" remarks that "No writer definitely 

 affirms that Eriodendro)i is wild ; nearly all speak of it as cultivated." 

 If evidence can be found showing the existence of this tree in the 

 Indies prior to the discovery of America, it will naturally raise 

 some interesting questions of the kind recently discussed by Mr. 

 O. F. Cook^[ who finds grounds for believing that the cocoa-nut 



* Las Casas. Historia de las Indias. Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la 

 Historia de Espana, 66: 322, 323. 1876. [Apendice capitulo XIII.] 



t The editor of the " Historia" states that Las Casas began the writing of it when 

 he was 78 years old, which would be after his return to Spain. 



X There is a Cuban tradition to the effect that the first mass on the present site of 

 the city of Havana, in 1 5 19, was celebrated, according to a tablet erected in 1754 in 

 commemoration of the event, under " una frondosa seiba." A photograph of this 

 tablet is reproduced in " El Mundo Illustrado" of November 20, 1904 (p. 3loy, a copy 

 of which we owe to the courtesy of Professor de la Maza of Havana. The accom- 

 panying account in " El Mundo Illustrad®" states that the original ceiba was cut 

 down in 1753, was replaced by another which died out during the building of the 

 commemorative " El Templete" in 1828, but seeded two other trees, one of which 

 still remains. 



§ Chonological History of plants, 783. || 3 : 260. 1890. 



If The origin and distribution of the cocoa-nut palm. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 7: 

 i — v. 257-293. 1901. The American origin of Agriculture. Pop. Sci. Monthly 61 : 

 492-505 O 1902. 



