June, 1910,1 



509 



Miscellaneous Products. 



forth nightly, and tear to pieces ele- 

 phants, tigers, and rhinoceroces with 

 its beak, the flesh of which it carried 

 to its nest. Furthermore they avouched 

 that ships were attracted by the waves 

 which surrounded this tree, and there 

 retained, the mariners falling a prey 

 to this savage bird, so that the inhabi- 

 tants of the Indian Archipelago always 

 carefully avoided that spot. Rumphius 

 thinks that the Chinese as well as the 

 natives of the Archipelago have set, 

 perhaps, too high a value upon the 

 medical properties of the nut, consider- 

 ing it an antidote to all poisons. The 

 principal virtue resided in the meat or 

 albumen, which lines the nut, and which 

 is so hard and corneous, as to be pre- 

 served for a length of time after the 

 embryo is destroyed. This substance is 

 triturated with water in vessels of 

 porphyry, and mingled with black and 

 white, or red coral, ebony, aad stags' 

 horns, was all drunk together. The 

 great men formed of the shell which 

 possesses fewer medical properties, pre- 

 cious vessels, cutting off a transverse 

 slice, which constitutes the lid ; in this 

 they put their tobacco, betel, lime and 

 whatever else they masticate believing 

 they can never then be contaminated 

 by anythiug noxious. 



With the discovery of the Seychelles 

 in 1743, a new period began for the 

 Sea Coco-nut, the object of so many 

 legeuds and superstitions. La Bourdon- 

 nias was the first to discover the tree on 

 one of the Seychelles Islands. He called 

 it "Isle of Palms, now known by the 

 name of "Praslin." Later on the tree 

 was also found on Curieuse and Round 

 Island. These are within half a mile 

 of each other, mountainous and rocky. 

 Plant, the well-known explorer of Port 

 Natal, tells us in what surroundings this 

 noble palm is growing ; "In the Seychel- 

 les," he says, " I more nearly realized my 

 preconceived ideas of tropical vegetation 

 than at any other place ; — the beach 

 fringed with common Coco-nuts ; the 

 ravines aad water-courses overhung 

 with Bananas, Bamboos, the open ground 

 full of Pineapples — miles of them run 

 wild ; the tops of the mountains covered 

 with forests of Ebony and Rosewood, 

 interspersed with Tree-ferns of some 

 20-30 feet high, and then these glorious 

 Lodoicese, with their leaves of fifteen 

 to twenty feet span, and trunks reach- 

 ing to the sky ; to say nothing of the 

 groves of Cinnamon Cloves and Bread- 

 fruit, all new to me in this their 

 natural wildness and beauty." Harrison 

 i3 not less enthusiastic when he re- 

 marks : "To behold these trees grow- 

 ing iu thousands, close to each other, 



the sexes intermingled ; a numerous 

 offspring starting up on all sides, shel- 

 tered by the parent plants ;— the old 

 ones fallen into the sear and yellow leaf 

 and going fast to decay to make room 

 for the young trees, presents to the eye 

 a picture so mild and pleasing, that it is 

 difficult not to look upon them as 

 animated subjects, capable of enjoy- 

 ment, and sensible of their condition." 



Although the tree had been discovered 

 at last, it still took a long time before 

 it was accurately described, Pierre 

 Sonnerat gave a description of it, though 

 not a very scientific one, when on his 

 tour to New Guinea he landed upon the 

 Isle des Palmiers (Praslin). He was the 

 first to introduce the tree into the Isle 

 of Prance. 



The description given by Rochon does 

 not add any new information. It is, 

 however, interesting to hear, that it 

 was not uncommon as late as 1759 to see 

 the nuts sold for upwards of four 

 hundred pounds sterling each. 



After this several botanists described 

 the palm under different names: Gmelin 

 called it Cocos maldivica, Giseke, Bor- 

 assus sonnerati, Commerson, Lodoicea 

 CaUipyge and Cocos maritima, Persoon 

 Lodoicea maldivica. At last La Bill- 

 ardiere was able to give a botanical des- 

 cription of it under its present name 

 Lodoicea sechellarum, to which he added 

 figures from specimens preserved in 

 spirits, together with a representation 

 of the tree from a drawing made iu the 

 Seychelles Islands by M. Lilet The 

 description is followed by an account of 

 the uses of the Palm, communicated to 

 the Museum of Natural History at Paris, 

 by M, Queau-Quincy, Correspondent et 

 Administrateur General des Isles 

 Seychelles, The description, however, 

 was still deficient in many points, and it 

 was to be expected that a botauist like 

 W- J. Hooker could fiud no rest before 

 he had found out everything about that 

 interesting tree, 



'* These accounts of la Billardiere" 

 he writes iu 1827 " in conjunction with 

 some nuts that Mr. Barclay and myself 

 received from our inestimable friend 

 and correspondent, Charles Telfair, 

 Esq., of the Mauritius, only served 

 to stimulate our curiosity ; and we 

 requested Mr. Telfair, to procure, if 

 possible, either from the palms that 

 he informed us were cultivated in the 

 Isle of France, or from the Seychelles 

 Islands, such specimens as would enable 

 lis to publish more satisfactory delinea- 

 tions than had yet appeared. The Isle of 

 France Palms had not yet fructified ; but 

 Mr. Telfair lost no time in begging his 



