242 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



ill other respects it is not materially different 

 from the common cocoa nut. The nuts which 

 are occasionally found at the Maldive islands 

 have been can'ied there by currents from the 

 place of growth. 



Great medicinal virtues are ascribed to this 

 nut by the indigenous inhabitants of India, both 

 in the prevention and cure of diseases. The ve- 

 nereal disease is supposed to be radically cured by 

 it. Thunberg saySj it is deemed a sovereign re- 

 medy against the flux, epilepsy, and apoplexy. 

 Bochon tells us that it was not uncommon at 

 one time to see them sold for upwards of £400 

 Sterling each. The Emperor Bodolph the 

 Second could not procure one at the price of 

 4000 florins. Some of the wealthy Indians had 

 cups made of them, which they ornamented 

 with gold and precious stones. They are now 

 more generally diffused than formerly, and con- 

 sequently much less valuable. Malte Brun in- 

 forms us, that it has been found profitable to 

 cultivate them in the isle of France. Many of 

 the mendicants in Ceylon have nuts of this kind, 

 in which they put the provisions they receive in 

 alms. 



The tree sometimes bears fruit in five or six 

 years from the time it is transplanted from the 

 seed-bed, but the produce is rarely abundant be- 

 fore the eighth or ninth year. It continues to 

 yield fruit for sixty or seventy years. In good 

 soils, and particularly during wet seasons, the 

 tree blossoms every four or five weeks; hence 

 there are generally fresh flowers and ripe nuts on 

 the tree at the same time. There are commonly 

 from five to fifteen nuts in a bunch ; and, in 

 good soils, a tree may produce from eight to 

 twelve bunches, or from eighty to 100 nuts an- 

 nually. 



Cocoa nut trees are sometimes much injured by 

 several species of the Coleopterous tribe of in- 

 sects. They excavate a hole of about an inch 

 diameter in the terminal leaf-bud, and, when the 

 leaves expand, the leaflets appear full of holes, 

 as if they had been perforated with shot of dif- 

 ferent sizes. In consequence of the injury done 

 to the bud by these insects the trees are some- 

 times killed. The larva or gnib of one of the 

 species of beetles which infest cocoa nut trees is 

 called Tucuma or Orugru in British Guiana. It 

 is about two or three inches long, and three 

 quarters of an inch in diameter, and the head is 

 black. They are reckoned a great delicacy by 

 wood-cutters and epicures of that country ; and 

 they are generally dressed by frying them in a 

 pan. By some they are preferred in a raw state ; 

 and after seizing them by the black head, they 

 are dipped in lime juice, and forthwith swal- 

 lowed. 



This species of the palm family has its habi- 

 tat in intertropical Asia, Australia, America, and 

 Airica. It is by some authors said to have in 



ancient times been cultivated in Arabia ; but 

 Niebuhr informs us that it is not found to the 

 north of Mocha. Like all other equinoctial 

 plants, the cocoa nut tree becomes less luxuriant 

 as we approach the tropics. At the suggestion 

 of Mr Dunlop, who lately, in so able a manner 

 superintended the clearing of Saugur island, at 

 the estuary of the Hooghly, that den of tigers is 

 likely to be a continued grove of cocoa trees. 

 Saugur lies in X. Lat. 21° 30', which is perhaps 

 as far from the Equinoctial line as that species 

 of palm can be cultivated with advantage. In 

 the neighbourhood of Lucknow, which lies in 

 N. Lat. 26° 24', the cocoa nut tree grows, but 'it 

 does not produce fruit. As the cocoa tree seems 

 to require for its perfection a mean temperature 

 of not less than 72° Fahrenheit, the proper cli- 

 mate for it wUl therefore be from the equator 

 to the 2oth parallel of latitude, and in the 

 equinoctial zone to an altitude of about 2900 

 feet. This general statement will no doubt ad- 

 mit of some qualification in regard to particular 

 situations. 'There may be exposed spots within 

 its favourite climate, where the fruit will not 

 come to maturity, and warm valleys beyond the 

 above limits, where the tree will grow, and per- 

 haps produce ripe nuts. The cocoa tree occu- 

 pies, therefore, a zone of 25° of latitude on both 

 sides of the equator, which includes nearly four- 

 fifths of Africa, one-sixth of Asia, one-third of 

 America, and excludes Europe. It may be re- 

 marked, that trees which grow in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the sea are much more luxur- 

 iant and productive than those which are planted 

 inland or upon elevated situations. The cause 

 of this degeneration is not very evident. 



The cocoa tree is much cultivated on some 

 parts of the east coast of America; from the 

 river St Francisco to the bar of Mamanguape, or 

 from about 7° 30' to 10° S. Lat., being about 

 ninety-four leagues, the Brazilian coast is with 

 few interruptions planted with cocoa trees. The 

 small island of Itarmaraca, which is only three 

 leagues in length, yields annually about 360,000 

 nuts. But perhaps this palm is no where so ex- 

 tensively cultivated as in Ceylon ; and the fol- 

 lowing remarks regarding its products are in- 

 tended more immediately to apply to the tree as 

 it grows in that island. The cocoa tree is culti- 

 vated both in the interior of Ceylon and along 

 the flat country adjoining to the sea; it thrives 

 best, however, on the coast of the south-west 

 aspect of the island, or from Calpenteen on the 

 north, to Dondrahead, on the south. About the 

 year 1813, it was estimated that 10,000,000 trees 

 grew between these two points, and since that 

 period the number has been annually increasing. 

 The extent of coast between Dondrahead and 

 Calpenteen is about 184 miles; the whole cir- 

 cuit of the island is 754 miles. Except cinna- 

 mon, the products of the cocoa tree form the 



