286 ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE COCOA PALM. 



palms (Guilielmia?) of which the outer layer or husk is fleshy and edi- 

 ble, not the kernel as in the cocoanut. Cieza de Leon also described 

 numerous small lakes, springs, and pools of salt water in the Cauca 

 Valley between Antioquia and Popayan, but especially at Cartago. 



But the final testimony to the existence of the cocoanut palm in the 

 interior regions of Colombia is that of Humboldt, who in giving an 

 account of the finding of healthy and vigorous trees at Concepcion'del 

 Pao, Venezuela, a station about midway on his journey between Bar- 

 celona and Angostura, declares that he and Bonpland also saw "'fine 

 cocoa palms " repeatedly during their travels in the upper part of the 

 valley of the Magdalena River of Colombia, 100 leagues from the 

 coast. 1 



As already stated, the derivation of the varieties of the cocoanut by 

 human selection has taken place in the Malay region, and not in 

 America. It is, however, known that the cocoanuts shipped from the 

 Colombian port of Cartagena are far superior to others produced in 

 America, and apparently they also exceed those of the East Indies in 

 thickness and quality of flesh, so that they are greatly preferred for 

 confectioneiy purposes. This fact ma}' have both theoretical and 

 practical importance, since it suggests the possibility that, in spite of 

 universal opinion, the cocoanut may be not only an inland species, but 

 that it may actually have suffered deterioration through long cultiva- 

 tion in an unfavorable habitat. 2 The thicker meat of the Colombian 

 nuts is a suggestion in the direction of having the kernel fill the shell, 

 the normal condition in all related palms. In fact, it is very difficult 

 to understand why the cocoanut should have carried the development 

 of the shell so far beyond the needs of the kernel. If the wild ances- 

 tral type of the cocoanut still exists in the mountains of Colombia we 

 may find that its flesh, if not solid, is at least thicker and more highly 

 flavored than that of any coast-grown nuts, and that the seed for new 

 plantations should be obtained from the wild, instead of from the too- 

 long domesticated stock. 



1 Humboldt and Bonpland' s Reise, vol. 3, p. 212 ( Wien, 1830). Seeman's version of 

 the same note (Popular History of the Palms, London, p. 155, 1856) differs substan- 

 tially in omitting the statements regarding the healthy condition of the palms in 

 these interior localities. 



2 Though romance and poetry have always linked together reef and palm, yet truth 

 to tell, the cocoanut does nut attain its greatest luxuriance upon the low reef islands. 

 To an eye, not to mention an appetite, accustomed to the cocoanuts of Xew Guinea, 

 the fruit of Funafuti seems to be dwarfed and stunted, and the palm trunks to be 

 small and slender. A hundred nuts on a stem is a maximum yield for Funafuti, but 

 double that amount is obtained elsewhere. "As big as a Rotumah nut," is a phrase 

 often heard upon Funafuti, the richer soil of that high island producing larger nuts 

 than the atolls; the shells of very large nuts being valued for flasks and toddy 

 vessels. — C. Hedley, Australian Museum, Sydney, Memoir III, pt. 1, p. 23 (1896). 



