73 &. 
COCO s. 
0 
rmed; fronds pinnate, leaflets folded back, enfiform. 
This ufeful tree is common almoft every where within 
the tropics, and is cultivated ill both Indies. It is flip- 
poled, however, to be originally a native of the Eaft In¬ 
dies, and is found in a wild ftate in the Maldives and 
Ladrones, Sic. as all'o in the illands of the South Seas. 
The roots are very (lender, Ample, and flexile; they arife 
feparately from the bottom of the trunk, and fpread in. 
all directions; fome running to a great depth, while 
others creep almoft: parallel to the furface. The trees 
grow to a great height; their Items are compofed of ftrong 
fibres like net-work, which lie in feveral laminae over 
each other, out of which come the branches, or rather 
leaves, which grow twelve or fourteen feet long. The 
midrib has fword-lhaped leaflets, whole borders fold back¬ 
ward ; the lirft leaves which pufli out from the nut when 
planted, are very different from thofe which are after¬ 
wards produced, for they are very broad, and have many 
folds in each ; whereas the after leaves have a ftrong mid¬ 
rib, twelve or fourteen feet long, on which the leaflets 
are. placed alternately; thefe are from fix to eight or nine 
inches long, and are almoft triangular, having very lharp 
points, and are very ftiff. The flowers come out round 
the top of the trunk of the tree in large clufters; they 
are inclofed in a large fpathe or Iheath, and the nuts af¬ 
terwards are formed in large clufters, ten or twelve toge¬ 
ther. When all the parts of the flowers have gained a 
due degree of perfection, the fpathe fplits on the under 
fide, from the bottom upwards, and expofes the common 
bunch, with all its flowers, to the open air: rnoft of thefe 
are males, and fall off gradually as the fpathe withers, 
leaving the embryo fruit, which is generally fixed to the 
lower and ftronger part of the ftalk, to increafe and ripen 
gradually. This fruit is properly a berried drupe,—fupe- 
rior, very large, ovate, rounded-three-cornered, umbili- 
cate both ways, tawny or reddifli, becoming finally of a 
very pale red or browmifli colour; the fkin is thin and 
very tough, the fubltance under this inverting the (hell is 
extremely fibrous. The fliell itfelf is of a bony fubftance, 
cvate-three-lided and acuminate, marked with three raifed 
fpurious futures, and having three holes at the bale clofed 
with a black membrane ; it is one-celled, valvelcfs, and 
of a dark-brown colour. The kernel adheres all round 
the inner wall of the fliell, and the cavity is filled with a 
milky liquor. The kernel in fome nuts is near an inch 
thick, and the hollow contains about a pint of a fweet, 
delicate, wholefome, refreftijng liquor. While the nut is 
growing, all the infide is full of this liquor; but, as the 
nut grows towards maturity, the kerne! begins to fettle 
round the infide of the fliell, and is foft like cream ; as 
the nut ripens, it increafes in fubftance, and becomes 
hard. The ripe kernel is fweet enough, but very hard to 
digeft, therefore feldom eaten, uiilels by ftrangers ; but 
while it is young and foft li'ke pap, fome will eat it, 
fcraping it out with a fpoon, after they have drunk the li¬ 
quor. The liquor is very pleafant, while the nuts are 
young ; as they grow old it becomes more lharp and 
cooling, and far more agreeable to over-heated habits. 
The kernel is very nourifhing, is much ufed in making 
foups, curries, &c. and may be fubllituted for almonds, 
in emulfions and apozems, where it can be had frelh. A 
pure fweet oil is extrafled from it, fit both for the table 
and medicinal ufes; in the Society Ides they fcent it with 
fantal-wood and other perfumes, in order to anoint their 
hair and Ikin with it. Befide the liquor in the fruit, 
there is a lort of wine drawn from the tree, called toddy , 
which looks like whey. It is fweet and very pleafant, 
but it is to be drunk within twenty-four hours after it is 
■drawn, for afterwards it grows four. They who have a 
great many trees draw a fpirit from the four wine, called 
arack. It is alio diftilled from rice, &c- but none is fo 
•much efteemed for making punch, as this fort made of 
toddy, or the fap of the cocoa-nut tree ; but it muft have 
a dalh of brandy to hearten it, becaufe this arack is not 
ftrong enough to make good punch of itfelf.. This fort 
of liquor is chiefly ufed about Goa 5 and therefore it has 
the name of Goa arack. 
In order to make arack, the tree muft be kept from 
bearing fruit; for this purpofe, the fprout which pro¬ 
duces the nut, and which Ihoots every month, is cut, and 
jars faftened to it to receive the liquor; or the body is 
bored, and a plug put into the orifice, which is occafion- 
ally taken out when the liquor is wanted ; this liquor is 
fuffered to ferment, <and is diftilled into the fpirit called 
arack, which far exceeds what is drawn from rice. If this 
liquor is expofed to the fun, it foon turns to vinegar. 
The coat or hulk of the lhell is compofed of ftrong fibres, 
and is two or three inches thick. With thele fibres, after 
foaking them in water, they make fail-cloth, cables, and 
cordage even for their largeft Ihips; as alio oakam, and 
yarns, ufed in the conftruitions of (hips, boats, houfes, 
See. The fiielj ferves for a variety of houfliold veflels; 
and when thefe are worn out, they are burnt to make 
lamp-black for painting, &c. The trunk is formed into 
gutters, and occafionally employed for incloling and roof¬ 
ing out-houfes, and, being nailed clofe, is fo hardy as to 
refill the weather for many years. The Indians make 
boats, rafters, and the whole frames of their houfes, fiom 
the body of this tree. The leaves are ufed for thatching 
them, and are wrought into mats, balkets, and many 
other things for which ofiers are employed in Europe. 
The tender flioots at the top afford a pleafant green, or 
cabbage; but for this the tree is deftroyed. It was cul¬ 
tivated in 1739, in Chelfea garden. 
3. Cocos butyracea : unarmed ; fronds pinnate, leaflets 
Ample. The pulp of the nut is very mucilaginous, and 
is ufed for fatting hogs. An oil or butter prepared from 
it is in conftant ufe among the Indians in South Ame¬ 
rica, both in food and medicine. 
3. Coccs Guineenfis, or prickly pole : the whole fpiny, 
fpines briftle-fliaped; fronds diftant; root creeping, knot¬ 
ty, round, thicker than the trunk, fliort, horizjntally 
bent in dire&ly below the furface, creeping, and prelently^ 
putting out another trunk, lo as to make ,1 thicket, whillt 
it fixes itfelf firmly in the foil by (lender fibrous roots. 
Trunk ereft, armed with very numerous prickles, and 
furnilhed with fome femilacerate withering liipes ; it is 
about an inch in diameter, and in open iituations l'eldom 
exceeds twelve feet in height; in woods it grows fome- 
what higher. The bark is brownilh. Flowers with a very 
flight tinge of yellow, and without (cent. Fruits dark 
purple, the fize of a common cherry, containing an acid 
juice, of which the Americans make a fort of wine; they 
are eatable, but not pleafant. However they furnilh the 
wild hogs with abundance of food in Jamaica. Canes are 
made of the trunk deprived of its bark; they are black, 
fhining, jointed, and very light: the French call them 
Cannes de ’Tobago, and they are fometimes brought to Eu¬ 
rope ; from this ufe of them for waiking-canes, Jacquin 
has named this palm badlris, onto tov fixy.Tgov. The out¬ 
ward part is extremely hard and elaltic, and looks much 
like whalebone ; it is fit for bows and rammers. Native 
of Carthagena in South America. 
4. Cocos aculeata, or great macaw-tree: aculeate-fpiny, 
trunk fufiform, fronds pinnate, ftipes and fpathes fpiny. 
This has a trunk the thicknefs of the human body, thirty 
feet in height, with an alh-coloured bark, and very thick 
fet with lharp black prickles, of different lengths, placed 
ufually in rings. The fruit is as large as a crab, and of 
the fame lhape : under a green ikin it has a thin fvveetilh 
aftringent pulp ; and within that a nut full of a white 
fweet eatable kernel. The fruit is thus more particularly 
deferibed by Gsertner: it is globular, flatted a little, 
about an inch in diameter, terminated by three acumi¬ 
nate feflile ftigmas, and retaining the iix-leaved calyx at 
the bafe ; (kin thick, coriaceous ; pidp fibrous, fucculent, 
finely fungofe and coriaceous, adhering to the nut, which 
is globular, fublenticular, of a ltony fubftance, thick, one- 
celled, with three holes on the fide, two of which are 
blind, and the third pervious. Seed Angle, fubgiobular, 
4 flattifli. 
