COCOA-NUT TREE. 319 



port such a cluster ; from twelve to twenty large 

 nuts, besides several small, unproductive nuts, 

 may be seen on each bunch, and in good situa- 

 tions the tree will admit of the fruit being ga- 

 thered four or five times in the course of the 

 year. The state in which the fruit is most used 

 as an article of food, both meat and drink, is 

 the green or young cocoa-nut, (Oua of the Tahi- 

 tans, Koroomba of the Singalese,) at which 

 time it yields an abundance of a delicious, cool- 

 ing beverage, to which, sometimes, Madeira 

 wine, brandy, &c. is added. The water, beau- 

 tifully clear, has a sweetness, with a slight de- 

 gree of astringency which renders it very agree- 

 able ; this liquid has been erroneously consi- 

 dered by most persons as injurious, producing a 

 predisposition to dropsical complaints, and has 

 been considered among the Tahitans one of the 

 exciting causes of that prevalent disease amongst 

 them termed fefe or elephantiasis ; but I have 

 recommended and adopted this cooling beverage 

 during my frequent and long visits to intertro- 

 pical countries, and have always found it the 

 most cooling and refreshing beverage during 

 my botanical and other excursions ; but when 

 an immoderate quantity is drunk, I have known 

 a slight degree of strangury produced by it. 

 The ladies, however, who may fear taking it 



