IS THE S A MO AN CO CO A NUT 



While these unpardonable injuries are sustained without ap- 

 parent detriment for a long time, they bring about the certain 

 result when the tree becomes old. The surface of the cut be- 

 comes deca}^ed, and this, once set in, progresses on into the 

 tree until it can no longer sustain its weight or withstand the 

 high winds of the stormy season. All trees are by no means so 

 injured, but a sufficiently large proportion are thus mutilated in 

 time as to bear manifestly on the total production. 



The habit of the cocoanut to reach out over the water seems 

 to be a provision of nature for its propagation and distribution. 

 The nuts, falling into the sea, will float for weeks in the bitterly 

 brackish waters of these tropic seas without injury to the ger- 

 minating quality. Once thrown upon the warm sands of a 

 beach or tossed by a wave upon the reef above the surface, it 

 soon puts forth its palm from the smaller end, while from the 

 round and larger end the tender roots strike into the soil or 

 decaj^ed coral, as the case may be. Many lagoons which have 

 risen within living memory and which for years remained with- 

 out sign of vegetation are now covered with the cocoanut, 

 although hundreds of miles from other islands. 



The value of the cocoanut is not confined to the single export 

 product, copra. The tree and its products are devoted to many 

 uses. The wood in the green state is very porous and spongy, 

 having consequently a great degree of resistance to rifle shot. In 

 the native wars in the past it was much employed in the build- 

 ing of defensive works. When thoroughly seasoned, it lasts for 

 a long time under ground and is valuable for all purposes for 

 which posts are employed. The oil enters in many forms into 

 the domestic uses of the natives. It forms the basis of all their 

 liniments and emollients in their simple but very rational phar- 

 macopoeia. It is used for anointing the body, a practice univer- 

 sally observed and in such a climate by no means so unreasonable 

 as it might appear at the first glance. It has the effect of keep- 

 ing the skin soft and fine, protecting it from sunburn, which in 

 these latitudes of a vertical sun, without protection, becomes very 

 severe. It serves as well to repel mosquitoes and other small 

 flying insects. Highly perfumed with the odor of the Moso'oi, 

 it is the general dressing for the hair, in the care of which these 

 people are very particular and cleanly, as they are in nearly all 

 matters. 



The nut is one of the standard articles of diet. Breadfruit, 

 taro, bananas, and cocoanuts form the staple articles of food, 



