358 



No oilier (la(a regarding this leinarkable phenomenon exist, and 

 at the present day we are still completely in the dark as to the 

 natnre and origin of such a cocos-pearl. 



On my last voyage to the East Indies for purposes of study, I 

 resolved to endeavour to find out something further about the cocos- 

 pearl and if possible solve the problem of its formation. At the 

 same time 1 realised the utter futility of going to look for cocos- 

 pearls in the Tropics on account of their extremely rare occurrence. 

 In proof of this it may be mentioned that on a cocoa-nut estate, 

 where approximately 3 million nuts have been opened annually for 

 years, no such pearl has ever been füund, although stories about 

 them have led to tiieir existence being suspected. 



I therefore directed my research to gathering as many authentic 

 data as possible. 



On one of my voyages I met a native of British India who pos- 

 sessed a very fine cocos-pearl. According to his own account he had 

 seen with his own eyes this specimen inside an opened cocoa-nut 

 which had been brought to him from Madras. He assured me solemnly 

 that his pearl had been attached to the kernel of the cocoa-nut and 

 exactly at the place where, in germination, the cotyledon forms a 

 haustorium. 



Later on I also met with an Arab on whose cocoa-nut plantation 

 in South Borneo a cocoa-nut had been gathered which, on being 

 opened, proved to contain a pearl attached to the inside of it. He 

 had dislodged liie pearl from the kernel of the nut with his own 

 hand. In this case al.so the pearl had been attached at exactly the 

 same place as in the case first-mentioned. 



These two corroborative declarations of eye-witnesses, who had 

 both seen a cocos-pearl still attached inside an opened cocoa-nut, 

 furnished me with a preliminary guiding-thread and led me to sup- 

 pose that the spot which they indicated would probably be the 

 normal point of attachment of such a cocos-pearl. 



The normal germination process of the cocoa-nut begins by an 

 enlargement of the embryo, whereby the cotyledon commences to 

 grow inwards to an absorbing organ (haustorium), and thereby 

 comes to protrude outside the endosjierm and into the central cavity. 

 Simultaneously with this, the plumule grows out and, breaking 

 through the membranous operculum of the germinating pore, it 

 pushes its way out through the hard shell. 



Proceeding from the provisional determination of the place of 



