38 
SURVIVAL ON LAND AND SEA 
both hands. Pull yourself up, doubling your knees 'and sliding 
the “bandage” up to a higher position with your feet. Straighten 
up, resting your weight on the “bandage” to get a new position. 
By repeating this process you can climb to any height. You will 
note that this permits free use of your hands when you reach the 
top, so that you can pick the nuts. Let them drop. They won’t 
be hurt, but don’t lie under a coconut tree or they may hurt 
you! 
On any single palm, the nuts will be in different stages of 
maturity. In general, the immature nuts are smaller and 
greener than the ripe ones. 
The three main stages of the coconut’s development and their 
uses should be recognized : 
(1) The husk of the half -grown coconut is green or light 
yellow. The jelly-like flesh can be scooped out and consumed 
in sufficient quantities to satisfy hunger, and balanced with fish, 
will sustain life indefinitely. It is at this stage that the water 
or milk is best for drinking. It rates next to water and is 
better than beer as a thirst quencher. 
(2) The hard meat of the mature coconut (the stage at which 
the nut is sold commercially in the United States) is too rich 
in oil to be eaten in quantity. At this stage the nut has fallen 
from the tree and the husk is brown. The milk is still good. The 
meat may be grated with a piece of coral or the edge of a shell 
and the grated meat squeezed in the hand to produce a thick 
cream which can be used as a sauce for fish, pandanus or other 
available food. 
; (3); The sprouted nut (the shoot of a new tree has begun to 
grow and roots appear) has a spongy growth within at the 
stem end. The growth gradually absorbs all of the milk and 
