Feb. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



304 ON THE COCO-DE-MER. 



which, the play of so long a lever subjects them ; and so well do they 

 perform their office, that I have never known an instance of a coco-de- 

 mer having been blown down. 



The leaves of the Lodoicea are winged and palmated, and bear a 

 great resemblance to those of the fan-palm. They are largest when 

 the stem is just appearing above the ground, and in favourable situa- 

 tions they may be fonnd as much as 15 feet long (exclusive of the 

 petiole, which is of an equal length) by 12 wide. As the trunk 

 increases in height, the length of the petiole and the size of the leaf 

 diminish. Did they not do so, the strength of the stem and its 

 supports, great as it is, could not resist the effects of the wind with so 

 great a leverage as the lofty stem would give. The petiole is so strong, 

 and so firmly attached to the stem, that a man may firmly sit on its ex- 

 tremities, and even swing upon it. I only know one man who would 

 venture on this perilous feat. He was a native of the Mai dive Islands, 

 settled at Seychelles ; and among all the perilous gymnastics I ever beheld, 

 none made me shudder more than to see him seated on the leaf-stalk of a 

 coco-de-mer at nearly 100 feet from rocky ground, rising and falling to the 

 utmost flexibility of the stalk allowed. He never met with any accideut. 



The leaf, previous to unfolding, is covered with a thick, fawn- 

 coloured down, of a cottony feel. When the trees were numerous, 

 this down was collect-. 1 iu sufficient abundance to form the stuffing of 

 mattrasses and pillows for the Praslinois ; the male and female flowers 

 are produced on separate trees. About three years after fecundation 

 the fruit has attained nearly its full size, and is then called Coco tendre, 

 It may in this state be easily cut through with a knife, and exhibits in 

 a most interesting manner the different substances of which it is 

 composed :— First, externally, is the drupe itself, green on the outside 

 and whitish within, of a harsh taste and astringent quality, like that 

 of the ordinary cocoa-nut. Next comes what will form the hard 

 shell of the nut. This is lined with a layer of a white, feculent 

 substance, almost tasteless. This covers a yellow matter, very bitter, 

 and said to be poisonous, which envelopes the perisperm — a jelly-like 

 mass, presenting much the appearance of cold starch slightly tinged 

 with blue. This has a sweetish taste, is considered cooling, and is 

 much esteemed by the Seychellois. In the centre of this, at the 

 point of the junction of the two lobes, lies the embryo. In the mature 

 state, which is not till seven or eight years after the fecundation, the 

 drupe has become fibrous, and from a rich dark green has turned to a 

 reddish yellow, and falls from the stem. Germination takes place 

 sometimes before and sometimes after the fall of the fruit, the shell of 

 which is hard and black, and marked all over by the traces of the 

 fibres which were inserted in it. The trunk does not show itself till 

 twenty or twenty -five years after the germination of the nut ; and 

 fourteen or fifteen years from this period the plant is in its greatest 

 beauty and begins to blossom. 



