— 125 — 
His Excellency coming from north of the Tweed gave a heart- 
ier ring to his welcome, and an additional pleasure to what 
will be the greatest event of his life time. 
“ As soon as all had removed the effects of the journey, we 
were seated under some fine old Badamier trees, and coco 
tendre, calou and cocoa milk and spirits were handed to us 
which were, very refreshing. 
“ Near by a pavillion had been erected covered in with leaves 
of the Coco de mer, and one single leaf formed its end, and it 
could have covered a much larger surface ; the leaves are 
pegged down with wooden nails made of bamboo split. 
“ We did not long wait for breakfast, and 14 of us sat down 
to a table covered with everything the island could produce, 
and I promise you we all did it ample justice . The sides of 
the pavilion were festooned with Lycopods and flowers and an 
idea I never saw put in practice before gave quite a novel effect 
to the decorations. Between every festoon bung a bunch of 
Mandarin oranges and sweet lemons, even from roof, to just 
within reach. * 
“ After breakfast, all set off exploring, and of course, our first 
visit was to the grove of the world’s wonder the Coco de mer, 
indigenous only to lie Bonde, Curieuse and Praslin. Prom 
the first it has entirely disappeared; from the second, as above 
stated, it is fast vanishiug aud at Praslin it is still flourishing 
but if not more care is taken to plant fresh ones, as the old 
are so rapidly being destroyed a nut will be soon as great a 
rarity as when the Emper r Rudolph offered 4,000 florins for 
one. To me as to most other people the first sight of a full 
grown tree was somewhat disappointing. A tall thin stem 
towering up over a hundred feet with a ragged head of green 
and withered leaves does not impress one. A cocoa nut is 
decidedly handsomer. These, however, are tho male trees, the 
females rarely are over 60 or 70 feet, and not being so high 
are less exposed to the winds hut when old are not much 
better looking than the males. But in this grove, the tree 
is to be seen in all the beauty that has made it so famous. It 
is certainly one of the loveliest vegetable productions when 
about 20 or 15 years old before the stem begins to rise. The 
