Che cocoa nui palm. 



THE cocoa-nut (or coker-nut, as it is sometimes 

 spelt) grows to the height of one thousand 

 feet above the sea, though it flourishes in greatest 

 luxuriance in the vicinity of the ocean. It rises 

 sixty to one hundred feet, its cylindrical trunk, 

 crowned with numerous waving, feathery leaves, 

 forms a beautiful element in inter-tropical scenery. 

 It is self-propagating. Its keel-shaped nut, pro- 

 tected from the salt water by its tough and thick, 

 though light covering, sails on the ocean to 

 barren spots, where it germinates and causes even 

 the smallest islet to become covered with clumps 

 of the cocoa-nut palm. The waving leaves on the 

 top are called fronds by botanists, and their foot- 

 stalks are often called branches by travellers. 

 The leaves are gigantic in size, being about 

 twenty feet in length, with a strong, tough stalk, 

 which forms the midrib, and has a number of 

 narrow and long leaflets ranged along the two 

 sides. It is a tree of great value to the people. 



