Feb. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



0!N THE COCO-DE-MER. 303 



gular production. The name " coco-de-mer," or sea cocoa-nut, was given 

 in consequence of the first specimens of it which were known having 

 been found floating in the sea, into which they had been carried by the 

 streams ; and some of these having been met with in the neighbourhood 

 of the Maldive Islands, their name was added to that of coco-de-mer. 

 When the Seychelles Archipelago was discovered, three of the islands 

 composing it, Praslin, Curieuse, and l'He Ronde, were covered with 

 magnificent forests of this unique palm, and their soil strewed with its 

 huge and singularly-shaped nuts. The value of their shells as domestic 

 utensils for various purposes was at once perceived, and from that time 

 to the present they have supplied to the inhabitants the place of buckets, 

 bowls, jars, dishes, measures for grain and liquids, drinking vessels, 

 paint-pots, &c. ; and v they were extensively used among the labouring 

 population of Mauritius, until the diminution of the plant and the great 

 demand for the fruit which has arisen within the last few years in India 

 and Persia, greatly enhanced their value. The palm which produces 

 this singular nut is the only member of its genus. Its systematic name 

 is Lodoicea Seycliellarum. It may be termed an equatorial plant, the 

 islands on which it is found lying between 4° 15' and 4 a 21/ S. lat., and 

 55° 49' E. Ion. Its stem attains a height of 80 or 90 feet, is quite straight, 

 cylindrical, and smooth, but slightly marked throughout its length by 

 the scars left by its fallen leaves. These scars are naturally more or less 

 distinct from each other according to the rapidity of the growth of the 

 plant. On the barren hill-sides they are scarcely two inches apart, 

 while in the moist and fertile gorges they are as much as three. The 

 diameter of the stem varies, from the same causes, from 12 to 15 inches. 

 A stalk so long and slender, crowned by leaves of vast size and strength, 

 is necessarily much influenced by the wind, and in strong breezes the 

 plants bend considerably, while tiieir elasticity causes them to wave in 

 the most graceful manner. The clashing of the leaves in a stiff gale 

 produces a louder noise than I have heard from any other trees, and 

 quite of a different nature ; and the occasional fall of the ponderous 

 fruit renders a passage among the sea cocoa-nuts a somewhat dangerous 

 affair, except in calm weather. I have heard of an instance of a woman 

 being struck by one while washing at a brook. A companion who was 

 washing beside her was only made aware of the circumstance by the fall 

 of the nut. The victim died without a cry or a groan. The stem of this, 

 like other palms, consists of a mass of hard fibres, enclosing a medullary 

 substance ; but the fibrous portion of the stalk of the coco-de-mer is 

 harder than that of any other palm I know, and can only be cut by a 

 sharp and well-tempered tool. The form of the stem likewise resembles 

 that of most members of its family, its largest portion being that which 

 rests on the surface of the ground. The root is in some cases bell- 

 shaped, in others, nearly hemispherical, and a vast number of rootlets 

 radiate from it in all directions except upwards. These extend to a 

 great distance around it, and form admirable stays to resist the strain to 

 vol. v. M M 



