1'16 THE PALMS OF ASIA. 



imssion which existed among the old botanists 

 and physicians for discovering medicinal virtues 

 in every plant and tree, it Avas not to be ex- 

 pected that they would allow so singular, rare, 

 and mysterious a production as the coco do mar 

 to pass without attributing to it special virtues ; 

 and accordingly we find it magnified as a 

 sovereign antidote against poisons of all kinds, 

 a cure for all pestilential diseases, and a remedy 

 for epilepsy, palsy, and fevers ; while, as may 

 be readily imagined in the case of so scarce 

 and so sovereign a remedy, it bore a very high 

 price. The inquisitive spirit of later days has, 

 however, failed to endorse these supposed vir- 

 tues, and we find them now considered entirely 

 apocryphal, and the nut is only esteemed as 

 a rarity and curiosity. Specimens were in (he 

 Great Exhibition among the articles from the 

 IMauritius. It is commonly known by the 

 name of the " double cocoa nut." 



The tree yielding these fruits was first disco- 

 vered by Barre, a Fz-ench ofiicer of engineers, in 

 17G9. It attains a height of eighty or ninety 

 feet, and is surrounded by a crown of singular 

 leaves, partly winged, partly palmated, which 

 open like a fan. The diameter of the stem is 

 only from twelve to fifteen inches, and it is so 

 flexible that it waves to the slightest breeze. 



