E 
Fruits of Cuba. R23 
oe A I 
found in all our grocery shops, being in great request E 
mince pies, wedding cakes, and other savory and at- 
tractive Compositions. The fruit looks like a very large 
lemon. The flowers are of a purplish hue externally. 
The tree is spreading and handsome. It is much more 
common on the shores of the Mediterranean, than in 
Cuba, where I only saw one or two trees of this species. 
Cocos nucirera. The coco or cocoa; which is the 
most commonly known species of a genus belonging to 
the grand order of the palms. 
It is unnecessary to describe the ripe nut, because 
every child has seen and eaten of it. But it is worth a 
voyage to the West Indiés, or some other tropical part 
of the world, to see this fie sede on its own gone 
ful and glorious tree. 
The trunk of the cocoa rises to a height of fifty or 
sixty, and sometimes even ninety feet, of nearly a uni- 
form thickness. It differs from that of the Royal Palm, - 
(Oreodoxa regia) in always being bent or inclined, in 
never having» a. swell, and in being marked, along its 
whole extent, with deep notches or rings, which are 
the scars left by the fallen leaves, never obliterated, 
and so rough and deep that the tree can. generally be 
ascended by their aid. At the summit of this trunk is 
a waving tuft of dark green, glossy, pinnate leaves, 
from ten to twenty feet in length, like gigantic plumes ; 
and just under this tuft are suspended the nuts, in long 
bunches, of all ages and sizes. The trunk easily sup- 
ports their weight, for though slender, it is very tough 
and strong, being composed of hard fibres closely . com- 
pacted together. When the sea or the: land bret N 
