COOK — THE COCONUT PALM IN AMERICA. 317 



DISSEMINATION OF THE COCONUT PALM BY PRIMITIVE MAN. 



Without the recognition of human agency in its dissemination the 

 history of the coconut would be likely to remain forever as mysterious 

 as it was to the eminent botanist Seemann, who traversed the subject 

 in several of his books in attempting to solve the problem by means 

 of natural agencies alone : 



. . . And the great puzzle has been, whence did it originally spring? Though 

 having paid considerable attention to this subject, I am not acquainted with any 

 theory, nor have been able to start one myself, which would be in unison with the part 

 the Cocoanut plays in different countries. a 



Seemann was inclined to believe that the coconut palm must have 

 been a native of Polynesia because of its extreme economic importance 

 in that part of the world. In support of this view, and in opposition 

 to the idea of Asiatic or Malayan origin which previous writers had 

 advanced, Seemann argued that the coconut could not have been 

 brought to the Pacific islands from the west, because colonists from 

 Asia would certainly have brought the Asiatic art of bleeding the 

 sap from the palms by cutting the young flower stalks, to make 

 toddy and sugar from the juice. Such facts tend to show that the 

 original inhabitants of the Pacific islands did not derive their agricul- 

 tural habits from Asiatic sources, and that the more modern contacts 

 with Asia have also been very slight, since they have left the Poly- 

 nesians in ignorance of the art of making toddy. 



. . . Had the Polynesians therefore once known the process, they would probably 

 never have forgotten so easy a way of obtaining sugar, vinegar, yeast, and a pleasant 

 drink, the strength of which may be regulated by time to any man's taste. So either 

 the Polynesians could never have come from eastern Asia, or else, after spreading over 

 the South Sea, ages must have elapsed before the cocoa-nut made its appearance in 

 these waters, so that the process of toddy-making (there being no other suitable Poly- 

 nesian Palms to operate upon) had been entirely forgotten, and even disappeared 

 from native traditions. Under such circumstances, it behooves us to suspend our final 

 judgment whether Polynesia be or be not the native country of the cocoa-nut. b 



If we admit Seemann's argument, and there is no good reason for 

 rejecting it, we can not suppose that the original settlers of the Pacific 

 islands came from the Malay region, for the coconut is the one thing 

 that they would have taken with them, if all else had been left behind. 

 It not only furnishes in that part of the world the chief ration for 

 native voyages, but is the only source of fresh water on many of the 

 smaller islands, and is thus indispensable for human existence. 



The fiber of the husk of the coconut is equally necessary to the 

 Polynesians in the building and handling of boats. The mystery 



a Seemann, B., Dottings on the Roadside, in Panama, Nicaragua, and Mosquito, 

 p. 152. (London, 1869.) 

 b Seemann, op. cit., p. 154; Flora Vitiensis, p. 276. (London, 1868.) 



