THE COMPLETED ATOLL. aan 
fruit. The husk is excellent for cordage, twine, thread, fish- 
ing-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 fig- 
ures. The nut, when opened, is 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 lke toddy, and possessing 
qualities that answer to the name; but this is procured at 
the expense of the fruit, and the good of the tree, and also 
of the best interests of the natives. 
It is doubted whether the ocean is ever successful in plant- 
ing the cocoanut on coral islands. The nut seems to be well 
fitted for marine transportation, through its thick husk, which 
serves both as a float and a protection; but there is no known 
evidence that an island never inhabited has been found sup- 
plied with cocoanut trees. The possibility of a successful 
planting by the waves cannot be denied; but there are so 
many chances that the floating nut will be kept too long in 
the water, or be thrown where it cannot germinate, that the 
probability of a transplanting is exceedingly small. This 
palm — the Cocos nucifera of the botanists —is not included 
in the above list of native Coral Island plants. 
Another tree, peculiarly fitted for the region, is the Pan- 
danus or Screw-Pine—well named as far as the syllable screw 
goes, but having nothing of a pine in its habit. Its long 
sword-like leaves, of the shape and size of those of a large 
Iris, are set spirally on the few awkward branches toward 
the extremity of each, and make a tree strikingly tropical in 
