MALAYAN CULTUEAL VARIETIES. 275 



ORIGIN OF THE VARIETIES OF THE COCOANUT. 



The multitudinous uses and universal popularity of the cocoanut. od 

 the shores and islands of the Indian Ocean and in the Malay region 

 generally have been interpreted by DeCandolle, Seeman, and others 

 as an indication of an Old World origin. If , however, the late appear- 

 ance of the cocoanut in Ceylon be taken into consideration, it becomes 

 apparent that the theory of an Asiatic origin is incompatible with that 

 of distribution by ocean currents; for, if the maritime theory is. to be 

 upheld, origin at a great distance must be predicated in order to 

 explain a comparatively recent arrival and a formerly more limited 

 distribution in the Indian Ocean. And yet this concession does not 

 greatly improve the situation, since we have excellent ground for 

 believing that the cocoanut has existed for several millenniums in the 

 islands to the southeast of Asia, or long enough to permit an extensive 

 differentiation of varieties. 



As with our temperate fruits, the varieties of the cocoanut differ 

 greatly in size, color, shape, and quality, and the trees also have vari- 

 etal peculiarities. In one sort the divisions of the leaves are only 

 imperfectly separated, a condition appearing in some of the more 

 primitive relatives of the cocoanut. Some of the varieties appear to 

 have been selected for special qualities, such as the flavor of the flesh, 

 oil, or milk, or the abundance and ease of extraction of the fiber. 



In America the relatively small importance of the cocoanut has not 

 secured for it the attention necessary to the recognition of differences 

 between the fruits of individual trees and the consequent development 

 of varieties by human selection, but in the Malay region more than 

 fifty sorts are reported, with distinct names and characteristics. Varie- 

 tal differentiation in a plant like the cocoanut may be expected to 

 require much more time than with annual species, probably at least 

 ten times as long. Moreover, if it be denied that the cocoanut varie- 

 ties arose entirely through an active process of artificial selection, on 

 the ground that considerable differences must have been attained before 

 they would have been appreciated and utilized, the time requirement 

 is still further increased. But in any case the varieties were doubtless 

 local at first, and their differentiation was probabty favored by isola- 

 tion in accordance with the general tendency among the palms to form 

 series of similar species of limited distribution. That this process is 

 well advanced among the cocoanuts of the Malay region would seem to 

 indicate their presence there for several thousand years, and this fact 

 is apparently incompatible with the late arrival of the species in Cey- 

 lon, if the winds and currents operate with any approximation of their 

 supposed efficiency. On the other hand, it is quite conceivable under 

 a theory of distribution by human agency that the cocoanut might have 

 existed for an extremely long period in the Philippines and other 



