74 THE COCOA-NUT. 



shafts, and with the lovely crown of green fans in sharp con- 

 trast against the deep blue of the sky. These large leaves 

 are used for roofing on the north-west coast, and make a very 

 impervious thatch, beautifully neat in appearance from the 

 under side. 



Many still undescribed species of palm are found in the 

 eastern woods. I was much interested in the southern 

 parts of the island to see to what a height some palms attain 

 in the universal striving for light and air amongst the other 

 trees. The anivona palm (I believe allied to, if not a 

 species of, areca) often grows side by side with the traveller's 

 tree, both soaring up to eighty, uinety, and even a hundred 

 feet in height. The former has its trunk banded with 

 narrow lines of green and brown. The bark is one of the 

 toughest known vegetable substances, and is used not only 

 in building houses, but also in making the remarkable native 

 boats used along the south-east coast (see Chapter ix.) Num- 

 bers of the delicate and graceful bamboo-palm are to be seen 

 in the upper forests ; the stem of this palm is only the size 

 of a fine bamboo, about one and a half inch in diameter. 



That most useful of palms, the cocoa-nut, is found sparingly 

 both on the eastern and western coasts of Madagascar. It 

 is said by some writers not to be indigenous, but to have 

 been introduced accidentally some 200 years ago through 

 some nuts having been washed ashore. From what I have 

 seen, however, I am strongly inclined to doubt this, as I 

 very much question whether any natural causes could have 

 spread the nut over a large extent of the island in such a 

 space of time ; and, until a very recent period, there has not 

 been sufficient intercourse between the different tribes to 

 render it probable that it has spread by being planted. The 

 native name (voanio) is identical with that given to the cocoa- 

 nut by many of the Polynesian islanders. 



Before leaving the palms, there is another of this graceful 

 family of trees which must be described, not only for its 

 beauty and abundance, but also for the numerous uses to 

 which it is applied. This is the rofia palm (Sagus ruffia). 

 It is not found on the coast, but on ascending from the plains 

 to the height of a few hundred feet above the level of the 



