272 Fruits and Friiit- Trees. 



to as the most refreshing of forenoon beverages, and (at 

 all events in the West Indies) is employed by the ladies 

 as a cosmetic. They believe that bathing the cheeks in 

 this more than Castalian spring restores the freshness and 

 bloom of youth. Alas for Rejuvenescence, if it is to be 

 found only in the juice of a palm-nut ! 



The original seats of the growth of the coco-palm 

 appear to have been the south of Asia and the islands of 

 the Indian Archipelago. Thence it has made its way to 

 every part of the littoral of the tropics, conveyed, doubt- 

 less, in great measure, by the waves. The peculiar nature 

 of the fibrous envelope, and the thickness of the shell, 

 enable the nut to remain in salt water for considerable 

 periods without any injury accruing to the germ. The 

 triangular form, a keel always undermost, facilitates the 

 sailing. Once afloat it never rests, tossing about until 

 cast ashore ; then, if the landing-place be congenial, it at 

 once takes root, and a new province is soon added to the 

 broad dominions. Let us not forget that this throwing 

 ashore comes of the intense and everlasting love of 

 cleanliness on the part of the ocean. Emblem of the 

 Infinite, type of all that is supreme, it refuses to tolerate 

 the least atom of impurity ; the simplest relic of weed or 

 straw is cast far as it can reach ; even the coco-nut is 

 allowed only on sufferance, and must go. Like the sea- 

 convolvulus and the eryngo, the coco-palm is essentially 

 a sub-maritime plant. It will grow inland and even 

 thrive ; but never is it so happy as when near the sea. In 

 the Indian islands, the smaller and lower they are, thus 



