268 ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE COCOA PALM. 



noted by Hernandez, this remarkable suggestion seems to receive 

 support from the fact that the cocobut plant has large spherical 

 swellings near the roots. 



The statement of Hernandez, already quoted, that the Mexicans 

 called the cocoanut "coyolli" is turned by De Candolle into an argu- 

 ment against an American origin on the ground that the word coyolli 

 "does not seem to be native," though no attempt is made to indicate 

 whence it was introduced; nor is the implication of an extra- American 

 word met by the theory of maritime distribution. Yet if coyolli was 

 not an Aztec word it either did not come alone or it fell into very 

 friendly society with dozens of others, like amolli, ylli, coyopatli, 

 cocotzin, chilli, quilamolli, copalli, and atolli. But a different objec- 

 tion may be taken to coyolli as an Aztec name for the cocoanut. It is 

 well known that the Aztecs came from the temperate plateau of Mex- 

 ico and that their power had rather recent^ been extended to the 

 tropical coast regions. 



It seems probable from the descriptions and figures of Hernandez 

 that the coj^olli was a native Mexican palm, probably iVcrocomia, the 

 fruit of which has the outer layer edible, oily, and yellow, so that 

 Hernandez supposed it to be the same as the Areca or betel palm of 

 the Philippine Islands, which is not known to have any similar name 

 in the Eastern Hemisphere, while coyolli is still current in southern 

 Mexico and Guatemala for Acrocorrda mexicana. Although declaring 

 that the Mexicans (Aztecs) called the cocoanut "coyolli," Hernandez 

 distinctly sa}^s that he never saw any of the trees in New Spain. This, 

 however, is not necessarily a discrepancy or an indication that Hernan- 

 dez thought that the palm had been introduced by the Spaniards, since 

 "Nova Hispania" was used by some of the early writers in a rather 

 narrow sense for the Aztec 1 region of Mexico, and not for that coun- 

 try as defined by its modern boundaries. But before this Hernandez 

 had already said that the cocoa palm was generally distributed in the 

 East and West Indies, and especially in maritime and sandy places 

 about human habitations. He secured from travelers accounts of many 

 Philippine plants and their uses, which seem to have been largely drawn 

 upon in the present instance. But it must not be forgotten that even 

 in his time the "Indies" were still one-quarter of the world, for as 

 Acosta quaintly says: 



. . . Wee meant by the Indies those rich countries Avhich are farre off and strange 

 unto. us. So we Spaniards do indifferently call Indies the countries of Peru, Mexico, 

 China, Malaca, and Bresil; and from what parts soever of these any letters come, 

 wee say they bee from the Indies, which countries be farre distant and different one 

 from another. 



1 According to Humboldt the Kingdom of Montezuma occupied only one-eighth of 

 the territory of modern Mexico. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, 

 vol. 1, p. 68 (New York, 1811). 



