262 ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE COCOA PALM. 



detail; although "coco-nuts" are mentioned, the context shows that 

 they were the seeds of Theobroma, and not of Cocos, and although 

 wine is said to have been made from the juice squeezed from the pith 

 of a palm, the tree is described as having "such prickles on the trunk 

 as the thorn." It may have been Acrocomia vinifera, but certainly 

 was not the cocoa palm. 



But these references to palms are suggestive as showing the extent 

 of interest taken in the subject during the lifetime of Columbus, and 

 they thus afford further proof, if any were needed, against a very 

 early introduction by wa}^ of Spain. Moreover, unless Columbus 

 himself brought over the cocoanut, it is extremely improbable that an 

 introduction by the Spaniards could have been made early enough to 

 have deceived Oviedo, Cieza de Leon, and Acosta, even if we admit, 

 for the sake of argument, the most incredible diligence on the part of 

 the natives in disseminating the species. Under exceptionally favor- 

 able conditions the cocoanut may begin bearing in five or six years, 

 though often it does not till considerably later, and the first nuts are 

 usually small and infertile. Ten or fifteen years generally elapse 

 before the tree reaches effective maturity, so that it becomes doubtful 

 whether even the cocoanut palms which Acosta saw at San Juan de 

 Puerto Rico were the result of European planting at that place, since, 

 if introduced by the Spaniards, the trees would have been compara- 

 tively young and still the objects of curiosity and remark. The facts 

 of their histoiy would still have been fresh in the minds of living men 

 and of exactty the nature to be told to a visitor interested in natural 

 objects and plant introduction. 



And behind these improbabilities is a more fundamental reason for 

 disbelief in any such extended efforts at introduction b}^ the early 

 Spanish explorers, namely, the fact that the cocoanut is of no very 

 considerable importance in continental regions, or even in large 

 islands. It is only on the coral reefs and atolls of the Pacific, where 

 there are often no other means of securing fresh water, that the cocoa- 

 nut is of really vital importance. Elsewhere it is a luxury rather 

 than a necessity, as far as the question of food is concerned, although 

 its secondary uses are in many places very numerous and highly differ- 

 entiated, so that it is now well-nigh indispensable to some millions of 

 the human species. But in America and Africa, at least, the cocoanut 

 is not a product of primary value, except in communities dependent 

 upon its sale as a commercial product. There are other woods much 

 easier to work, other libers much easier to extract, and other cala- 

 bashes 1 much easier to cut and otherwise more suitable for drinking 



1 In the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America the so-called "calabash trees," 

 species of Crescentia, furnish hard-shelled fruits readily available for domestic pur- 

 poses, while the ancient Peruvians cultivated the bottle gourd (Lagenaria) on a large 

 scale. Moreover, pottery was manufactured all the way from Mexico to Peru and 

 elsewhere in tropical America. 



