NUTS. 291 



their abundance is one reason why the electric flashes, so 

 unusually prevalent in Ceylon, so rarely cause accident. 

 No less ornamental than useful, they form a beautiful 

 feature of tropical scenery ; and Humboldt speaks in 

 glowing terms of the natural charms of those S. American 

 river-banks, " the windings of which are marked by Cocoa- 

 trees, as the rivers of Europe are sometimes bordered by 

 poplars and willows." As the nuts grow at the summit 

 of the lofty stem, the palm tribes being unbranched, the 

 best means of gathering them is by passing a hoop round 

 the tree, enclosing also the body of the climber, whose 

 feet are likewise connected by a ligature enabling him to 

 clasp the trunk. The slovenly Malays, however, merely 

 cut notches in the wood to assist them to ascend a plan 

 which is not only dangerous to themselves, but also in- 

 jurious to the tree. 



A singular variety of the common nut is the once fa- 

 mous Cocos de Mer, or Double Cocoa Nut, which presents 

 an appearance as though two of the ordinary kind had 

 grown together, leaving only a furrow to mark the junc- 

 tion. These huge and strangely-shaped objects used some- 

 times to be found floating on the waves of the Indian 

 Ocean, and as none knew with certainty what was their 

 nature or whence they came, much controversy was ex- 

 cited respecting them, some guessing them to be only the 

 produce of some unknown land, fallen into the water, 

 others far more confidently affirming them to be marine 

 productions, or in the language of one of these old writers 

 " a fruit growing itself in the sea, whose tree has hitherto 

 been concealed from the eye of man." The superstitious 

 Malays added to the mystification by inventing strange 

 stories respecting its natural, or rather, according to them, 

 its imnatural history, affirming that the submarine palm- 

 tree which bore it sometimes became visible beneath the 

 waves, but always vanished immediately if any one dived 

 near it ; while its branches were reported to be the abode 

 of a gigantic griffin, which had the power of attracting 

 ships towards its dwelling-place, the crews of which it 

 then devoured. Invested with the charm of so much 

 mystery, these rare sea waifs were highly valued and com- 



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