COOK THE COCONUT PALM IN AMEKICA. 287 



like Oviedo, Acosta, and Hernandez, and merit the high commen- 

 dations bestowed by Clements R. Markham, who translated Cieza's 

 writings. 



The statement of Cieza de Leon regarding coconuts is as follows: 



. . . The site is twenty-three leagues from the city of Cartago, twelve from the 

 town of Anzerma, and one from the great river, on a plain between two small rivers, 

 and is sorrounded by great palm trees, which are different from those I have already 

 described, though more useful, for very savoury palmitos are taken from them, and 

 their fruit is also savoury, for when it is broken with stones, milk flows out, and they 

 even make a kind of cream and butter from it, which they use for lighting lamps. 

 I have seen that which I now relate, and it all comes within my own experience. 

 The site of this town is considered rather unhealthy, but the land is very fertile. b 



Velasco, in writing of the palms of the same region over two 

 hundred years later, identifies Cieza's reference and applies it to the 

 variety of coconut called vira chorda or "butter palm." It may 

 be doubted whether this is the true coconut palm or a distinct species 

 which has been called Cocos butyracea. 



To treat butyracea as a distinct species does not render it any less 

 interesting, either from the botanical or the agricultural side. If the 

 interior of Colombia affords other species of Cocos that are distinct 

 from Cocos nucifera and yet closely related to it the question of 

 origin will be still more definitely answered, and the diversity of 

 types available for introduction to other parts of the world will 

 appear still greater. It is evident, however, that Velasco con- 

 sidered his vira chorda only as a variety of the coconut palm, since 

 he includes it with three other varieties. Velasco's account of the 

 coconut palms of Colombia, written about 1789, but not published till 

 1844, appears to contain more original information than any other 

 statement on the subject. It is evident that he took special interest 

 in the palms as a group, since he describes numerous species in 

 detail, with their native names and uses. The parts relating to the 

 coconut palms may be translated as follows: 



There are more than fifty different species of palms, all with the generic name 

 Chonta. . . . The fruit, in the language of Peru is called ruru and in that of Quito 

 lulum, which means egg; accordingly the fruit of any sort of palm is called chontaruro. 



« "The work of Pedro de Cieza de Leon is, in many respects, one of the most remark- 

 able literary productions of the age of Spanish conquest in America. Written by a 

 man who had passed his life in the camp from early boyhood, it is conceived on a 

 plan which would have done credit to the most thoughtful scholar, and is executed 

 with care, judgment, and fidelity. ... In arrangement, in trustworthiness, in 

 accuracy, and in the value of his observations, the work of Cieza de Leon stands 

 higher than that of any contemporary chronicler: and these qualities in his book 

 are enhanced by the romantic life and noble disposition of its author." — The Travels 

 of Pedro de Cieza de Leon, trans, by C. R. Markham, pp. i, lvii of the introduction. 

 (Hakluyt Society, 1864.) 



&Op. cit., p. 68. 



