THE COCOA NUT TREE. 



2-13 



chief staple commodities of Ceylon. The Mal- 

 dive islands produce great quantities of cocoa 

 nuts ; where they are reckoned to be the price 

 of labour. In Congo, this palm is said to form 

 one of the greatest blessings in nature. 



It does not appear that the cocoa tree is nearly 

 as much cultivated in the West India islands as 

 in the east. Mr Stewart, in his account of Ja- 

 maica, says, however, that " on some estates 

 groves of them are planted, and an oil extracted 

 from them to light the works during crop-time. 

 Occasionally the nuts are served out to the slaves 

 as an article of food." 



In many places along the coast of Ceylon cocoa 

 trees thrive well upon the sandy soil near to the 

 sea, where hardly any other plant will vegetate. 

 These cocoa groves, through which the eye can 

 reach for a great extent, intermixed with the 

 huts of the natives, composed entirely of cocoa 

 leaves, form a very picturesque object. When 

 the trees are full grown, the bare trunks rise like 

 columns of from sixty to 100 feet in height, while 

 the horizontal pinnated leaves interlace, by which 

 meansagrove resembles the long aisles and Gothic 

 arches of a cathedral : above these arches a pro- 

 fusion of fine leafy plumes rise from the centre 

 of the trees, and project almost perpendicularly 

 towards the sky, thereby adding greatly to the 

 beauty and variety of the prospect. About 

 thirty years since, the colonial government of 

 Ceylon had it in contemplation to impose a tax 

 upon cocoa trees; but, in consequence of the 

 strongly marked aversion of the people to such 

 a measure, the plan was abandoned. On the 

 Malabar coast, cocoa nuts pay a land tax of half 

 a fanam for every tree tbat is in full-bearing, old 

 and young trees being exempted as unproduc- 

 tive. And, at Marzouck, in northern Africa, a 

 tax of one dollar is levied upon every 200 trees 

 of the date palm. Ben Ali informs us, that the 

 king of Fezzan imposes a tax upon the same spe- 

 cies of the palm tribe. 



The cottages of the inhabitants are always 

 surrounded by a great number of palm-trees 

 more particularly of the cocoa nut palm; and 

 those plants seem to thrive best which are situ- 

 ated near to the dwellings of the inhabitants. 

 This circumstance has given rise to an observa- 

 tion of the natives, namely, that a cocoa nut 

 tree delights in conversation. The ashes which 

 result from the burning of wood for culinary 

 purposes, is a more probable cause of the luxur- 

 iance of the trees close to the cottages, as the 

 sweepings of the huts are generally deposited at 

 the foot of a tree. The cluster of trees which 

 surrounds a hut is called a " toddy tope" by the 

 English. The word tope is probably derived 

 from the German word zapfen, to draw, and 

 hence also tap, a spout, tapsters, and tap-room. 

 Tope has been supposed by some authors to be 

 derived from our word copse. Pol-watte signi- | 



fies a cocoa nut garden or plantation in the 

 Singhalese language. It has been already stated 

 that the Singhalese almost always construct 

 their huts under the dense shadow of palm-trees 

 of different kinds. This comfortable mode of 

 defending habitations from the direct influence 

 of an ardent sim, seems to have in ancient times 

 been practised in Judea (Judges iv. 5,) and it 

 is very generally adopted in all countries where 

 the palm family is found to thrive. 



When very young, the fruit is called bellaca 

 by the inhabitants of the Malabar coast, who 

 speak the Tamool language, and coquinhas by the 

 Portuguese ; Singhalese, hooroomba. When fully 

 formed, but with a soft pulp, it is called elani by 

 the Tamools, in Portuguese lania. When a 

 httle firmer, it is called tenga in the Tamool 

 language, and coqito in the Portuguese. The ma- 

 ture nut is called cotta tenga by the Malabars, 

 and coqiio sicca by the Portuguese. In the Sing- 

 halese language, the nut is called pol. The term 

 cocoa, by which this palm and its fruit is dis- 

 tinguished, is said by several authors to be of 

 Portuguese origin. Bauhhi tells us, that cocoa^ 

 or coquhen, is derived from the three holes at the 

 end of the nut, giving it the resemblance of a 

 Cercopithecus, a species of monkey. St Pierre, 

 in his Harmonies of Nature, says, that a cocoa 

 nut, stripped of its pericarp, bears an exact re- 

 semblance to the head of a negi'O. Piso asserts, 

 that the term cocoa has been applied to the tree, 

 on account of the sound emitted, when air is 

 blown into one of the holes of the nut, having a 

 resemblance to the voice of an ape. The Portu- 

 guese name for a monkey is macaco, or macoco. 

 There is, however, little doubt that cocoa, is de- 

 rived from the Greek word koxo?, a seed, oi'berry. 

 Uses. Cocoa nut trees are sometimes found 

 growing on low flat coral islands, owing, probably, 

 to the accidental circumstance of the nuts which 

 may have dropped into the sea being thrown upon 

 land by the waves, and hence a cocoa nut tree 

 often becomes a useful beacon to the mariners, 

 by pointing out the situation of rocks, little 

 above the water's edge. No plant seems to ve- 

 getate sooner on the newly formed islands of 

 coral which are so frequent in some of the seas 

 within the tropics, than the cocoa nut tree. By 

 falling into rivers, the nuts are often conveyed 

 to the ocean, and by this means they are disse- 

 minated to widely distant countries. 



Roots. This part of the tree is sometimes 

 masticated by the natives in place of the areca 

 nut. The Brazilians make baskets of the small 

 roots. 



Wood. The hard woody sheU or crust of the 

 trunk is employed by the natives in making 

 drums, and in the construction of their huts, &c. 

 It is also much employed for making gutters. 

 Towards the base of the trunk the wood is re- 

 markably hard, and admits of a high polish. A 



