431 ORIGIN OP CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



breadth of the Isthmus of Panama -would have facilitated 

 the transport from one coast to the other, and the species 

 would soon have been established in the West Indies, at 

 Guiana, etc., as it has become naturalized in Jamaica, 

 Antigua,^ and elsewhere, since the discovery of America. 



8. If the cocoa-nut in America dated from a geological 

 epoch more ancient than the pleiocen« or even eocene 

 deposits in Europe, it would probably have been found on 

 both coasts, and the islands to the east and west equally. 



9. We cannot tind any ancient date of the existence 

 of the cocoa-nut in America, but its presence in Asia three 

 or four thousand years ago is proved by several Sanskrit 

 names. Piddington in his index only quotes one, narilcda. 

 It is the most certain, since it recurs in modem Indian 

 languages. Scholars count ten of these, which, according 

 to their meaning, seem to apply, to the species or its 

 fruit.^ Narikela has passed with modifications into 

 Arabic and Persian.^ It is even found at Otahiti in the 

 form ari or haari* together with a Malay name. 



10. The Malays have a name widely difi"used in the 

 archipelago — kaldpa, kldpa, Mdpo. At Sumatra and 

 Nicobar we find the name njior, nieor ; in the Philippines, 

 niog ; at Bali, niuh, njo ; at Tahiti, niuh ; and in other 

 islands, nu, nidju, ni ; even at Madagascar, %uua-niu.^ The 

 Chinese have ye, or ye-tsu (the tree is ye). With the 

 principal Sanskrit name this constitutes four different 

 roots, which show an ancient existence in Asia. How- 

 ever, the uniformity of nomenclature in the archipelago 

 as far as Tahiti and Madagascar indicates a transport by 

 human agency since the existence of known languages. 



The Chinese name means head of the king of Yue, 

 referring to an absurd legend of which Dr. Bretschneider 

 speaks.® This savant tells us that the first mention of 

 the cocoa-nut occurs in a poem of the second century before 



' Grisebaoh, Flora of Brit. W. Iiidies, p. 552. 



' Eugene .Fonrnierhaa indicated to me, for instance, drdapala (with 

 hard ir-ait), palakecara (with hairy trait), jalakajka (water-holder), etc. 



' Blqme, Rumphia,, iii. p. 82. 



* Porster, De PlanUs Esoidentis, p. 48 j Nadeaud, Enum. des Plantes 

 de Taiti, p. 41. 



» Bhime, ubi supra.' Bretschneider, Study and Value, etc., p. 24. 



