The Coco- Nut. 271 



in the present instance, by the coquilla-nut, i.e. that of 

 being an Interpreter, helping us to resolve problems 

 and enigmas. 



The three scars suggested the name borne by the 

 coco-nut. This is often said to be "derived from the 

 Spanish name of the monkey, because of a fancied resem- 

 blance to the head and face of that animal." But coco 

 is not Spanish for " monkey." The primary sense of the 

 word is that of an ugly bugbear, of any kind, adapted to 

 frighten children, the meaning it still holds in Portuguese. 

 The application to the nut dates from the time of the 

 original visits to India by the Portuguese, as described 

 in the celebrated " History of the Conquests of Portugal 

 in Asia and Africa," by Joao de Barros, the first volume 

 of which was published in 1552.* The addition of a 

 final a, needless and improper, came of confusion of coco 

 with cacao, the native name of the beverage-plant, now 

 also corrupted into " cocoa." 



The "milk," so called, is a portion of the natural 

 albumen of the nut, unconverted into white kernel. 

 During the germination of the embryo, which is lodged 

 in the soft scar, it becomes entirely absorbed, the cavity 

 of the nut then becoming almost filled with a curious 

 egg-shaped body, spongy and uneatable. It is well, 

 perhaps, sometimes not to know too much. Coco-nut 

 milk, as we have it in England, is little better than a weak 

 mockery of the delicious crystalline liquor it is in the 

 tropics. There it is called coco-nut water; it is resorted 



*Dec. III., book 3, chap. vii. 



