152 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. X.— B. S. 
these buildings are erected, and when, at some future 
period, some antiquary digs open the foundations of 
these ancient structures, he may he tempted to demon¬ 
strate—as some do who now write about our Euro¬ 
pean lake-dwellers—that there must have been a race 
of pigmies here, because all tools, arms, etc., are of 
such diminutive size ! 
On this same coast of southern Darien there are 
also large tracts covered with Cocoa-nut Palms, to all 
appearance wild there. The Cocoa-nut is now found in 
every part of the tropics, though never much beyond 
them, chiefly on the seacoast; some varieties, however, 
have been met with far inland, for instance, at Merida, 
in Yucatan, by Heller; at Patna, in Bengal, by J. D. 
Hooker; and at Concepcion del Pao, in South America, 
by Humboldt and Bonpland. But there is reason to 
believe that at one time its geographical range was 
much more limited; indeed, we know that even in our 
days it has been extended to the West Coast of Africa; 
and the great puzzle has been, whence did it ori¬ 
ginally spring? Though having paid considerable 
attention to this subject, I am not acquainted with 
any theory, nor have been able to start one myself, 
which would be in unison with the part the Cocoa- 
nut at present plays in different countries. It is 
assumed that the Isthmus of Panama, or the country 
thereabouts, was the cradle of this singular produc¬ 
tion, and that it thence floated to Polynesia and Asia. 
The reason for this assumption is that all the other 
species of the genus Goeos belong to the New World 
as inland species, and that it is reasonable to suppose 
