HISTORY OF THE SEA COCOA-NUT. 933 



resided in the meat or albumen, which lines the nut, and which is so 

 hard and corneous, as to be preserved for a length of time after the 

 embryo is destroyed. This substance was triturated with water in 

 vessels of porphyrv, and, mingled with black and white, or red coral, 

 ebony, and stags' horns, was all drunk together. The great men 

 formed of the shell, which possesses fewer medicinal properties preci- 

 ous vessels, cutting off a transverse slice, which constitutes the lid ; in 

 this they put their tobacco, betel, lime, and whatever else they masti- 

 cate, believing they can never then be contaminated by anything 

 noxious.* 



With the discovery of the Seychelles in 1743, a new period began 

 for the Sea Cocoa-nut, the object of so many legends and superstitions. 

 La Bourdonnais^ was the first to discover the tree on one of the Sey- 

 chelles Islands. He called it " Isle of Palms " now known by the name 

 of " Prashn " Later on the tree was also found on Curieuse and 

 Round Island. These are within half a mile of each other, mountain- 

 ous and rocky. Plant, the well known explorer of Port Natal, tell- 

 us in what surroundings this noble palm is growing : '' In the 

 Seychelles." he says, " I more nearly realized my preconceived ideas 

 of tropical vegetation than at any other place ; — the beach fringed with 

 common Cocoa-nuts ; the ravines and watercourses overhung with 

 Bananas. Bamboos, the open ground full of Pineapples — miles of them 

 run wild ; the tops of the mountains covered with forests of Ebony 

 and Rosewood, interspersed with Tree-ferns of some 20-30 feet high, 

 and then these glorious Lodoicese, with their leaves of fifteen to 

 twenty feet span, and trunks reaching to the sky ; to say nothing of 

 groves of Cinnamon and Cloves and Bread-fruit, all new to me in this 

 their natural wildness and beauty." Harrison is not less enthusiastic 

 when he remarks : '* To behold these trees growing in thou:-ands, 

 close to each other, the sexes intermingled ; a numerous offspring- 

 starting up on all sides, sheltered by the parent plants ; — the old ones 

 fallen into the scar and yellow leaf, and going fast to decay, to make 

 room for the young trees, presents to the eye a picture so mild and 

 pleasing that it is difficult not to look upon them as animated subjects, 

 capable of enjoyment, and sensible of their condition.'' 



1 G. Curtia, Botanical M.igarine, 2734-38. 



2 Mah^ de la Boardonnais, born in 1699, died in 1753. 



