THE COMPLETED ATOLL. 239 



Cassytha filiformis Z. Heliotropium prostratum R. Br. 



Gouldia Romanzoffiensis A. Cr. Nesogenes euphrasioides, A. DC. 



Euphorbia Chamissonis Boiss. Asplenium Nidus Z. 



Hoerhavia diffusa Z. A Polypodium, and a species of 

 Boerhavia hirsuta IVild. Grass. 



Achyranthes canescens R. Br- 



Still, there is a better supply than might be supposed. For 

 the cocoanut, in view of its uses, is a dozen trees in one. Its 

 trunk furnishes timber for the houses of the natives, and the 

 best of wood, on account of its weight and strength, for clubs 

 and spears, weapons much in use, besides serving as ornamental 

 side-arms. Its leaves supply material for thatching ; for coarse 

 matting to sit on, and beautiful fine mats for use in the way of 

 occasional dress ; also for the short aprons or petticoats of the 

 women, above alluded to. The fruit, besides its delicately- 

 flavoured hollow kernel, affords, by the grating of this kernel, 

 a milky juice, that is richer than cream for purposes of native 

 cookery, and which we explorers often used with satisfaction in 

 coffee, cows being unknown in those regions ; also, from each 

 nut, a pint of the thinner " cocoanut milk," a more agreeable 

 drink in the land of cocoanuts than in New York ; also an 

 abundant oil, much valued for sleeking down their naked bodies, 

 and sometimes offered to a friendly visitor whom they would 

 honour with a like anointing. Further, from the young fruit, 

 three-fourths grown, comes a delightful beverage as brisk 

 nearly as soda-water, besides a rich creamy pulp ; both of these 

 far better than the corresponding products of the ripe fruit. 

 The husk is excellent for cordage, twine, thread, fishing-lines ; 

 and the smaller cord serves in place of nails for securing together 

 the beams of their domestic and public buildings, and also for 

 ornamenting the structure within, the cord being often wound 

 with much taste and diversity of figures. The nut is, when 

 opened, a ready-made drinking cup or cooking utensil. Finally, 

 the developing bud, before blossoming, yields a large supply of 

 sweet juice, from which molasses is sometimes made, and then, 

 by fermentation, a spirituous liquor, called among the Gilbert 

 Islanders by a name that sounded very much like toddy, 



