318 Natural History of the Coco-:'iit Tree 



India from south to norths and divide it into throe zonjjs 

 in its whole length. This species has for distinguishing 

 characters a form perfectly oval, a ligneous and more solid 

 shell, a husk exceedingly green, and filaments rcmarkablv 

 hard, all its sutures so little prominent that they arc sensible 

 to the eye but not to the touch. 



3d, That of the coast of ISlalahar^ which is turbinated j 

 tliat is to say, larger at the hole which is found under the 

 covering that binds and fixes the pedicle of the fruit to its 

 cluster. 



4th, The coco-nut of the Maldives, sandy islands, unco- 

 vered, no doubt, by the sea at no very distant period, is very 

 small and absolutely spherical ; its sutures are very much 

 raised, and far more prominent in the upper part than those 

 opposite to its pedicle. 



5th, That of Achem, a small island situated on the south 

 side of those of Sonda and the Moluccas, is distinguished 

 by its ovoid form, its extreme smallness, and the thickness 

 of its kernel, which is so pulpy that there is scarcely any 

 vacuity in it, and that it contains very little liquor. 



6th, The species cullivatcd in the Nlcohar Isles, situated 

 in the upper part of the 13av of Bengal, which is the largest 

 of all the varieties of this fruit. Its external form is trian- 

 gular; its husk or fibrous bark is remarkably thick ; the nut 

 is oval, and a little flattened at its two poles, and there is- 

 sues from the upper pole a sharp point ; on which account 

 it is called the needle coco-mif. 



7th, The C'wo-niit of Ceylon is a very elongated spheroid : 

 it has its suture corresponding to the orifice or eve of the 

 germ, more prominent by a strong line than those of the 

 other countries. Such are the characters which distinguish 

 the different species of the coeo-nnt of the Indies. 



The utility of the coco-nut has been so well known in 

 Hindostan since the remotest antiquity, that Bralnna, of 

 whom the Indians call themselves the children, the legis- 

 lator of that country at a very remote period, marks out 

 one of the nineteen casts which compose that people for 

 the purpose of being exclusively occupied in the cultivation 

 of this valuable tree, and in extracting and preparing the 

 different products of it. This cast is that of the Chanas ; 

 it is one of the highest and most distinguished, and one 

 of those said to be (f the ri^ht hand. In a word, this tree 

 IS so valuable in the eyes of the Indians that they consider 

 it almost as an unpardonable crime to cut it down : accord- 

 mg to them it is a sort of homicide ; an idea, in some mea* 

 iiure, well founded, as 1 shall here show. "This opinion 

 3 characterizes. 



