Nature and Art, April 1, 1867.] 
THE COCOA-NUT PALM. 
109 
The range of this invaluable tree is very extensive, 
it is found in Africa, the East and West Indies, 
South America, and the countless islands of the 
Southern seas. There are many varieties of cocoa- 
nuts, each distinguished by some well-marked 
peculiarity : in Tahiti (one of the Society group) 
there are six kinds, each known amongst the 
natives by some distinct name ; in Ceylon four 
well-marked varieties exist. The Buddhist priests 
generally contrive to have a number of the choicest 
kinds in the neighbourhood of their temples, as 
they not only, like the monks of old, keep a bright 
eye on the good tilings of earth, but secure a stock 
of the best nuts as propitiatory and alms-producing 
offerings to the passing wayfarer. The Tembili, which 
is a very well-formed handsome nut, of oval form 
and bright rich orange tint, is usually selected for 
this purpose ; there are also sub-varieties of this 
nut. The Naivasi is slightly heart-shaped, of 
lighter colour than the preceding, and bears an 
edible husk : when the outer skin is stripped off, the 
rind within turns to a pale red colour, and is fit for 
use. There is another kind which bears a somewhat 
small and round nut ; but in colour much like the 
Tembili. The fourth description is the common 
cocoa-nut, too well known to need description. In 
the cabinets of the curious there are frequently 
preserved specimens of what has been called the 
Double, or sea cocoa-nut ( Ladoicea Seychellarum ), 
and in old days the most marvellous medicinal 
virtues were attributed to it, and nuts of this kind 
were considered unfailing antidotes to all kinds of 
poison : their origin was veiled in obscurity, as 
those obtained were either picked up floating at 
sea or on the coasts of the Maidive Islands, where 
they were washed by the tides and currents. At 
one time the most extravagant sums were asked 
and obtained for them. A merchant-ship, with 
her freight and stores complete, has been given in 
exchange for one. £400 have been refused, and 
it is recorded that the Emperor Bodolph the Second 
caused an offer of 4,000 florins to be made for one 
which chanced to be for sale ; but that sum being 
considered insufficient, the precious nut passed into 
other hands. 
The natives believed that the trees producing 
these nuts grew at the bottom of the sea, and were 
enchanted palms, which vanished the instant the 
adventurous diver attempted to reach them; others 
believed that huge griffins resided in the&e magic 
groves, visiting the land at night for the purpose of 
supping on elephants and tigers, and spending their 
time during the day in luring ships within their 
reach, when they at once made a meal of the 
mariners navigating them. Instant death was the 
portion of any secretive native who failed in at 
once handing over to the king such nuts as he 
might find on the coast. These, when sold by 
royal aixthority, proved by no means an insignificant 
revenue. The kernel of the nut was the part in 
which the miraculous medicinal virtues were 
supposed to reside ; and the most ridiculous and 
anomalous ingredients were mixed with it for use, 
such as the antlers of deer pounded, ebony 
raspings, red coral dust, and several other matters 
equally useless. These once coveted treasures are 
now by no means as rare as they used to be, being 
easy of obtainment in the Seychelle Islands, the 
place of their growth. Attempts have been made 
to introduce this description of nut into the Isle of 
France, and there appears no reason why they 
should not thrive there. The palm bearing it is 
said to require 130 years to bring it to maturity; 
this we are somewhat sceptical about. Cups made 
from the shells are in high repute amongst the more 
wealthy natives of India, by whom large sums are 
expended in gold and precious stones for mounting 
and ornamenting them. The religious mendicants 
of Ceylon set a high value on these shells, and use 
them as alms-boxes, believing that there is some 
attractive influence possessed by the nut-shell 
which irresistibly draws the contributions into 
them. If this were 1 ’eally so how great would be- 
come the demand for sea cocoa, -nuts, even in this 
enlightened island ! In favourable situations the 
palm bearing the common cocoa-nut grows to from 
sixty to eighty feet in height, but rarely exceeds 
from one to two feet in diameter at the base. 
An upright cocoa-nut tree is nearly as great a 
rarity as a black rose or blue dahlia; almost every 
angle of inclination may be seen among the trees 
forming a grove, the prevailing winds often in- 
fluencing their line of direction. The roughness of 
the bark covering the trunk throughout its length 
is caused by the progressive falling off of the fronds 
or leaves as the tree shoots upwards, the tufted 
crown alone retaining the living foliage. Here the 
graceful fern-like leaves may be seen in every stage 
of growth and development, the lower tiers drooping, 
those above spreading out feather-like, whilst the 
centre stands up plume-like in all its beauty. The 
nuts grow in clusters, and from forty or fifty to two 
and even three hundred in different stages of 
development, may at times by careful examination 
be counted on one tree. Many members of the 
palm family produce incredible numbers of blossoms 
on the spathes, which are thrown up amongst the 
leaflets of the crown. The sago palm of the Orinoco 
has been said to have produced eight thousand fruits, 
whilst one spathe of the date palm has been com- 
puted to contain over twelve thousand male flowers. 
The spathe of the cocoa palm is often nearly four 
feet long, and six inches in circumference. The 
annexed cut, on a diminished scale, will serve to 
show the form of the blossoms, and the manner in 
which they are encased. In favourable seasons these 
plumes of flowers are shot forth every four or five 
weeks, and as the blossoms pass away the young 
nuts are formed progressively, affording a store from 
which a hungry or thirsty man may provide and 
refresh himself all the year round. When the sap 
of the palm is sought for the manufacture of toddy 
and some other products, the soft young fronds, 
together with the flower spathe, are bound together 
with ligatures in order to prevent the development 
of the blossoms. A puncture is then made at the foot 
of thespathe with an instrument called a toddy-knife, 
and numerous taps administered to the neighbour- 
