224 FLORIDA FRUITS COCOA-NUTS. 



tity with the "porcupine wood" of commerce, a change of 

 name more striking than euphonious, and for which it 

 w r ould be difficult to assign a reason other than the caprice 

 of the manufacturers of elegant work-boxes and costly ar- 

 ticles of furniture, by whom it is chiefly imported. Hard 

 as ivory, of a rich chocolate color, spotted with black, and 

 finely veined, it admits of an exquisite polish, the choice 

 pieces frequently resembling dark agate. 



Before the cocoa-nut palm becomes aged (it bears fruit 

 for seventy years and lives much longer), the interior of 

 the stem affords a floury substance, which is sweet and 

 pleasant to the taste, and may be called the bread of the 

 tree; in addition to this flour the stem also yields a species 

 of gum, highly prized by the Tahitian women, who use it 

 to plaster and stiffen their hair, according to their ideas of 

 beauty and grace. 



In Barbary guests are entertained on festive occasions 

 with the honey or the dipse of the cocoa-nut palm, which 

 is really the sap of the tree. The crown is cut from off a 

 vigorous palm, and the top of the stem thus left bare is 

 scooped out into the form of a deep basin. 



The sap ascends on its accustomed course, unconscious 

 of the evil fate that awaits it, and finding its return cut 

 off flows gently, and, as we may imagine, sadly into the 

 receptacle prepared for it. Here it collects at the rate of 

 three or four quarts a day, during the first fortnight ; after 

 this the quantity diminishes, and at the end of two months, 

 the sap, exhausted, ceases to flow, the tree becomes dry and 

 dead, and is cut down for timber or fire-wood. 



The dipse thus obtained is sweeter than honey, and of 

 less consistency, but if not used immediately it becomes 

 thick and ropy, and after distillation affords an agreeable 

 spirit, which is called arikyby the natives, and is the "palm 

 wine " of the ancients. 



