FAN-LEAVED PALM. 
276 
pieces, they use them as a substitute for writing- 
paper. 
The fruit of the borassus has been known from 
time immemorial by the name of the Coco of the 
Maldives. Many of the trees grow in those islands, 
where the inhabitants prize the fruit on account of 
several valuable properties, of which the principal is 
its power to preserve them against all kinds of poi- 
son. The belief of this power in the fruit is so 
strongly impressed on their minds, that they are 
said to sell it at a very dear rate to their neighbours, 
for similar purposes. 
