NATIVE OWNERSHIP AND 

 HUSBANDRY. 



WHEREVER human settlement has taken 

 place in coco-nut producing lands, there the 

 trees are certain to abound. In the great 

 majority of cases it was, and still is, everywhere 

 a small ownership arrangement, every man to 

 his few trees, just sufficient for his individual 

 needs and those of his family, among whom 

 the trees are carefully portioned out to be 

 looked after. To such people the most highly- 

 prized heirloom is a small grove of coco-nut 

 trees. In some few isolated communities the 

 trees would be held, planted, and garnered 

 conjointly as on the South coast of New 

 Guinea and the Islands of the Torres Straits. 



The coco-nut forms an object of worship, 

 and is revered and endowed with beneficial 

 influences in many regions. And small 

 wonder, for there is hardly one item of daily 

 need that it does not furnish. 



Search any canoe you like, and you will 

 surely find some coco-nut products in it ; it 

 is food and drink as well. There is not a 

 meal in the native dietary but what this nut 

 forms some ingredient. It lends itself to 

 being eaten raw, cooked, stewed, and grated. 



