THE DATE. 



downwards on the outside of the shell. The 

 seedlings are allowed to remain in this state for 

 about a year before they are transplanted. Holes 

 of about two feet deep, and from twenty-five to 

 thirty feet distant from eacli other, are dug in 

 the field intended for a cocoa nut garden, and the 

 young shoots put into them. Under each nut 

 on the Malabar coast a fanum is placed. A little 

 earth is put round the nut ; and, in dry weather, 

 the plants are watered. They require to be pro- 

 tected from c-rvttle, and particularly fromelephants. 

 Double Cocoa Nut Palms. About eight or ten 

 degrees north of Madagascar, lies a small group of 

 islands called the Scj/chclles, wliich are rendered 

 famous by the production of a palm not known 

 in any other part of the world, and whose history 

 is too remarkable to be passed over altogether in 

 silence. Even of this small group of islands, 

 three only, lying within half a mile of eacli other, 

 produce the palm that bears the double cocoa nuts, 

 or, as they are called, cocos de mcr, from an er- 

 roneous idea that they were marine productions. 

 Until the discovery of these islands in 1743, 

 ■louble cocoa nuts were only known from having 

 •l>ecn found floating on the surface of the sea in 

 the Indian ocean, generally destitute of husk, 

 and with the inner part decayed; but still so 

 highly prized as to lie spoken of by Rumphius 

 as a "wonderful miracle of nature, the most 

 rare of marine productions." This author fur- 

 ther assures xis that the double cocoa nut is no 

 terrestrial production that may have fallen in 

 the sea, and there become petrified, as others 

 ignorantly stated; but "a fruit growing itself in 

 the sea, whose tree has hitherto been concealed 

 from the eye of man." The Malays asserted that 

 the palm that bore it was sometimes seen at the 

 bottom of the ocean, but that if dived for it instantly 

 vanished; while the negro priests further affirmed 

 that its submarine branches harboured an enor- 

 mous griffin, which nightly came to shore, and, 

 seizing elephants and tigers, carried them off to 

 its nest as a prey; and not satisfied with those, 

 attracted such ships as came near to the spot, 

 and devoured the luckless mariners. With such, 

 and even stranger ideas respecting its place of 

 growth and history, there is no wonder that 

 this nut should be highly prized in the Mal- 

 divian islands: it was death to any man to pos- 

 sess it, and all that were found belonged to the 

 king, who sold them at high prices, or distributed 

 them as regal gifts. From 120 to 150 crowns 

 were paid for each nut; and even kings have 

 been so gi'cedy of obtaining these fruits, as to 

 give a loaded ship for one. Rumphius certainly 

 states his suspicions, that the Cliinese and Malays 

 may have perhaps set too high a value on the 

 double cocoa nut, when considering it an antidote 

 against all poisons. The albumen, or meat, which 

 lines tlie nut, was thought to be the part where 

 lliis virtue resided ; it was mingled with red 



coral, black ebony, stag's homs, and many such 

 anomalous ingredients, and drank from vessels 

 of porphyry. All inflammations of the body were 

 likewise believed to be subjected to its powers. 

 It was a preservative against colic, apoplexy, 

 paralysis, iS:c. The shell being less precious, 

 was granted to the great men for drinking-vcssels; 

 a single slice being sufficient, if used as the lid, 

 to neutralize tlie effect of any noxious ingredient 

 that might mingle with the drink. The dis- 

 covery of the Seychelles islands, and the know- 

 ledge thus obtained, that these mystical nuts 

 grew upon trees, caused a speedy reduction in 

 their value, though the botanical history of the 

 palm that produced them, continued long a de- 

 sideratum. Some imperfect notices served but 

 to stimulate the curiosity that was finally gra- 

 tified by Mr Telfair, who entreated Mr Harrison, 

 a freed resident in the Seychelles, to obtain the 

 necessary species and delineations. To behold 

 those trees," says Mr Harrison, "growing in 

 tliousands close to each other, the sexes inter- 

 mingled; a numerous offspring starting up on 

 all sides sheltered by the parent plants, the old 

 ones fallen into the sear and yellow leaf, and 

 going fast to decay to make room for the young 

 trees, presented to my eyes a picture so mild 

 and pleasing, that it was difficult not to look 

 upon them as animated objects, capable of en- 

 joyment, and sensible of their condition. A 

 new leaf is formed annually, which, falling off 

 at the year's end, leaves a scar or ring; by count- 

 ing the number of which, it is estimated that 

 this palm requires 130 years for its fuU growth. 

 The foliage is finest on young plants shooting 

 up perpendicularly, folded close like a fan, to 

 ten feet or more. In this state it is pale yellow, 

 and is used for hats and bonnets, afterwards it 

 expands in all its beauty, and becomes green. 

 The crown or cabbage in the midst of the leaves 

 is eaten, the trunk is used for building, and the 

 foliage serves for thatching, and even for the 

 walls of houses; a hundred leaves sufficing to 

 construct a house, including the partitions, doors, 

 and windows. The do^vn attached to the young 

 foliage serves for filling mattresses and pillows, 

 while the ribs of the leaves make baskets and 

 brooms. Vessels of different forms and uses are 

 made out of the nut, some of them holding six 

 or eight pints; and being very strong and durable, 

 they are much valued. Among other articles, 

 shaving dishes, black, beautifully polished, set in 

 silver, and carved, are formed of these nuts. 



The Date (phoenix dactyUfera.) Next to the 

 cocoa imt, the date is unquestionably the most 

 interesting and useful of the palm tribe. It is 

 of the class Dicecia; order Tiiandria of Linnaus. 



The date palm, though some of the family 

 are more majestic, is still a beautiful tree. The 

 stem of it shoots up in one cylindrical column, 

 to the height of fifty or sixty feet, without 



