LETTER II. 45 



diftant Iflands ( viz. DefeaJa, St. Bartholomew^ 

 Santa Cruz &c. ) for that purpofe, provided Cab- 

 bage-trees, which they might have had for cut- 

 ting up and carrying a few miles home, would 

 have done for fuch an ufe. To be fmcere and 

 plain, I take Cabbage-trees to be wild Coco's 

 which do not bear Nuts, for they exa6tly refem- 

 ble them in all other refpedts : Salmofi in his 

 Eaftern Hiftory fays the fame. 



23. The very higheft of the Coco's which do 

 bear Nuts that I ever faw, might ( both in Body 

 and the Boughs that always fprout upwards and 

 fpreading from the top of the Body ) amount to 

 forty Feet in height, that is to fay, the Body to 

 thirty, and the Boughs to ten. The Body is the 

 exadl Ihape of an Apothecary's large Iron Peftle, 

 viz. of an equal thicknefs at top and bottom, but 

 fomewhat fmaller in the middle -, its colour is of 

 a pale Brown, and the Bark fmooth. The Boughs 

 are of a mod lively Yellow, ftrait, and tapering 

 like an Angle Rod} having two rows of green 

 leaves that are very narrow though a foot long 

 apiece, ( except for a little way towards the fmal- 

 ler end ) and clofe fet together the whole length 

 of the Boughs. The Nuts hang at the top of the 

 Body in about a dozen in a Clufter, and may I 

 believe weigh fifteen pounds, or better -, The 

 ftringy fubftance which holds them being wond- 

 rous tough, and thicker than my middle Finger, 



One 



