336 COCOA-NUT TREE. 



given to prevent their falling- on the side, by 

 which they may be burst. 



The natives of the island of Tahiti^ in one of 

 their traditions, ascribe the origin of the cocoa- 

 nut to its having grown from the head of a man : 

 they have similar traditions for the origin of the 

 bread-fruit, yams. Sec. &c. 



There are other species of the cocoas. The 

 C. butyracea, a native of South America, the 

 C. guiniensis, aculeata, nyim, &c. &c. all of which 

 yield a fixed oil in use for various purposes. 



Lionel Wafer, (1685,) when at the Island Co- 

 coas, southern Pacific Ocean, (latitude 5P 15' 

 north, attributes injurious effects to an indiscri- 

 minate use of the water of the cocoa-nut by some 

 of his crew, by which that beverage was found 

 unfit for a jollijication ; for he says, " Nor did 

 we spare the cocoa-nuts, eating what we would, 

 and drinking the milk ; carried several hundreds 

 of them on board. Some or other of our men 

 went ashore every day ; and one day, among the 

 rest, being minded to make themselves very 

 merry, they went ashore, and cut down a great 

 many cocoa-trees, from which they gathered the 

 fruit, and drew about twenty gallons of milk. 

 Then they all sat down, and drank healths to the 

 king, queen, &c. They drank an excessive 

 quantity ; yet it did not end in drunkenness. 



