HISTORY OF THE SEA COCOA-NUT. 929 



knowne, they can not be numhred. The Inhabitiints are like the 

 Malabares : some of these Hands are inhabited, and some not inhab- 

 ited, for they are very lowe, like the countrie of Cochin, Cranganor, 

 etc., and some of them are so lowe, that they are commonlie covered 

 with the sea : the Malabares say. that those Hands in time past did 

 ioyne fast unto the firme land of Malabar, and that the Sea in processe 

 of tyme hath eaten them away. There is no merchandize to be had 

 in them, but only coqueu, which are Indian nuttes, and cayro, 

 which are the shelles of the same nuts, and that is the Indian hemp, 



wherof they make ropes, cables, and other such like 



There are some of these nuttes in the said Hand that are more 

 esteemed then all the nuttes in India, for that they are good against 

 all poyson, which are verie faire and great, and blackish : I saw some 

 that were presented unto the viceroy of India, as great as a vessell ot 

 2 canes measure, and cost above oOO Pardawen, which were to send 

 unto the King of Spaine. Of this tree and her fruites, together with 

 the usage thereof I will discourse more at large in the declaring of 

 the Indian trees and fruites." 



We are looking in vain for a more detailed description of the fruit 

 in the II volume of the Itinerario, where a great number of plants 

 are described^. 



The best account of the Maldives is that by Francois Pyrard- who 

 was shipwrecked there in 1601. His description contains also the 

 following short note on the Double Cocoa-nut ; " The king has, 

 besides his revenues, certain rights, e.rf., everything that is found on 

 the seashore belongs to the king, and nobody has the courage to touch 

 ■ inything of the kind in order to keep it, but all must bring what they 

 tind to the king, whether it be a piece of a wrecked ship, pieces of 

 wood, a box or other things carried to the shore. The same obtains 



^ Gnlielmas Pii-o was so much disappointed at not finding the deticriptioa promised 

 by Linschoten that he wrote: " Promittcns Nucis medica3 arborem integra hisioria 

 enarrare, in quo tamen velut corvos hiantes nos eludit, vulgarem vero pertract;ire decurrit 

 subsidiis in banc mentem non excussus." Mantissa Aromatica in Clusiu-, 1. c. p. "Jli'). 



' Pyrard was born at Laval towards l.'>7b, travelled in the East Indies, wa« ship- 

 wrecked near the Maldives, fell info the hands of a Prince in Bengal, served two years in 

 the Poringnese Army, and p-ibliehed on his return to France his *♦ Discoars du voyage des 

 I'ran^ie aux Indes Orientales," Paris, 1611. A better edition by Bignon ;ind Bergeron 

 appeared in 1616 under the title : •» Voyages des f ranfais aux Indes Orientales, Maldives. 

 Molnques, et an Braail, dc 1601 a 161 1 . — We quote from the edition of 1670, Paris. 



