1 46 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



winds, which is not so familiar to Europeans. A remarkably 



fine strong fibrous matting, attached to the bark under the 



bottom of the stalk, extends half way round the trunk, and 



reaches perhaps 2 or 3 feet up the leaf, acting like a bracing of 



network to each side of the stalk, which keeps it steadily fixed 



.to the trunk. While the leaves are young, this substance is 



remarkably white, transparent, and as fine in texture as silver 



paper. As the leaf increases in size, and the matting is exposed 



to the air, it becomes coarser and stronger, assuming a yellowish 



colour. I write mainly from memory, and forget the native 



name for this curious substance, but I think it is aoa. There is 



a kind of seam along the centre exactly under the stem of the 



leaf, from both sides of which long and tough fibres about the 



size of a bristle regularly diverge in an oblique direction. 



Sometimes there appear to be two layers of fibres, which cross 



each other, and the whole is cemented with a still finer fibrous 



and adhesive substance. The length and evenness of the 



threads and fibres, the regular manner in which they cross at 



oblique angles, the extent of surface and the thickness of the 



piece, with the singular manner in which the fibres are attached 



to each other, cause this curious substance woven in the loom 



of nature to present a remarkable resemblance to cloth spun 



and woven by man's ingenuity. The Fijians use this matting 



for various purposes, chiefly for making bags. In the Society 



Islands, jackets, coats, and even shirts were made of it in years 



gone by. 



The flowers of the cocoa-nut tree are small and white. The 

 fruit does not, as a rale, come to perfection in less than twelve 

 months after the blossoms have fallen. A branch will some- 

 times contain twenty or thirty nuts, or even more, and there 

 are often six, seven, or eight branches to a tree. The tough 

 fibrous husk is about 2 inches in thickness, and this torn away, 



