Method of CUmhing the Cocoa-jml^n. 2 1 



sented to them, while, for want of any other receptacle, they 

 secreted the remainder in the wide holes transpiercing the 

 lobes of the ears, after which they with the most frank munifi- 

 cence, and in token of their hospitality, pulled a number of 

 young cocoa-nuts from the tree, and gave us their fluid con- 

 tents to drink. Very singular was the method in which this was 

 effected. They tie their feet together by the ankles with a loop 

 of the same bast, or bark rope, which, when employed in fast- 

 ening their long black locks, usually forms such a picturesque 

 frontlet, and then clamber with the agility of cats to the 

 summit of the palm, throw to the bottom the separated fruit, 

 and slide swiftly down to the ground again. Holding in one 

 hand a tolerably heavy young nut, in the other a sharp cut- 

 lass, they proceed at one sure blow to open the nut, in such 

 manner that a small orifice is made, through which the re- 

 freshing liquid contents can be conveniently quaffed. Wlien 

 this has been evacuated the nut is usually split in half, in 

 which form it serves as a most nutritious food for the fowls and 

 hogs. Despite their hospitality, there was perceptible in all 

 of them great anxiety, and the upshot of all their conversa- 

 tion always resolved itself into the stereotyped questions, 

 " What did we really require ? whether we wished to pur- 

 chase cocoa-nuts, and would soon be leaving ? " 



Great and natural as our desire was to penetrate from the 

 shore, thickly covered with its belt of cocoa-nut palms, into 

 the rather flat interior, and thus obtain a nearer view of the 

 hive-shaped, basket-formed huts which were visible under 



