— 65 — 



islands of that group : Praslin, Curieuse, and Tile 

 Ronde ; all three in juxtaposition. 



These islands,when discovered, were nearly covered 

 with forests of this singular Palm, many of which were 

 a hundred feet in height, {a) The finest specimens are 

 met with in the damp gorges of the mountains, where 

 a bed of rich humus is deposited by the washing of 

 the hill-sides. The stem is in general perfectly straight, 

 and eight or nine inches in diameter. Let us now trace 

 its growth from the time that the ripe nut falls upon 

 the earth. 



Within a few weeks of this period, germination (&) 

 takes place, and a club-shaped root about an inch in 

 diameter at the end, penetrates the soil to a depth of 

 twenty or thirty inches. From near the bottom of 

 this in about nine months from the commencement of 

 the germination, sprouts a leaf at an angle of about 

 forty five degrees with the root. This leaf is closely 

 folded, and presents a hard, smooth surface and a 

 sharp point. When it has attained a height of about 

 two feet above the surface of the soil, it expands, and 

 then offers little to distinguish it from the leaf of a 

 fan-palm which about equals it in size. Nine months 

 after, another leaf follows, coming up the grooved sur- 

 face of the mid-rib of that which preceded it, and so 



(«) Vide Noto in page 3, of Mr. John Anderson's Pamphlet. 



(b) The germination, of the Double Cocaauut is a monocoty- 

 ledonous (having a single temporary loaf or lobu iu the embryo) 

 germiuatiou. 



