FLORA VITIENSIS. 277 
Portuguese word macoco or macaco, a monkey, the end of the nut having three black scars, which give it 
somewhat the resemblance of a monkey’s face. I think it may be shown that this fruit was known in 
very early times in Egypt, and that the name is derived from a word in the old language of that country. 
In the collection of ‘Egyptian Monuments,’ just published by Brugsch, there is an inscription (pl. 
xxxvi.) from the tomb of a functionary who lived in the reign of Tothmes I., cirea B.c. 1650. It gives 
a list of the trees which grew ih the garden of this person, with the numbers of each kind. Twenty 
species of trees are mentioned. There were ninety Sycamores, thirty-one Perseas, five Fig-trees, three 
Acacias, twelve Vines, eight Willows, ten Tamarisks, and others which cannot be clearly identified. 
Appended to the name of each tree is a determinative hieroglyphic representing a bush or tree. In three 
eases the determinative is a manifest Paim-tree. In the first of these cases the name is represented by 
a single hieroglyphic, a bunch of dates, of which the sound is known (from being phonetically ea 
in other texts) to be baner; it is the Coptic benne, the Date-palm (Phoenix dactylifera). The number 0 
trees of this kind in the garden was a hundred and seventy. In the next case the aa is written 
phonetically mama. This was, in all probability, the Doum-palm (Hyphane eucifera), het ie ean 
in Egypt. There were a hundred and twenty of these trees. Of the third Palm, our nee rigs 
had only a single specimen. Its name is written phonetically mama-en-khanent. Eevee calls i 
Hyphene Argun, which is the name of an African species of Palm. I believe it to Hee ee Senne 
tree, for the reasons which follow. In the first Sallier Papyrus, page 8, there is a sort o poe ios APs a 1e 
to the god Thoth, the patron of scribes. In this the writer addresses his deity thus:—‘ O thou ee ree 
(mama) of sixty cubits in height, upon which are kuku (with determinative of seed or fruit) et ae 
(same determinative) within the kuku ; with water within the khanint. Here it is evident t ie iv e _ ae 
tree mentioned is the same as that in Brugsch’s inscription, viz. the Palm of oe : lain | 
kuku is evidently its fruit; the khanini must be the kernel or flesh, within which is the well-known eee 
nut milk. The height of the tree answers well, as the ordinary growth of the Cocoa-nut Palin is ea to 
be from sixty to ninety feet. The Doum-palin is ir oe Veatch otek nee te 
; ‘whi is 1 v pul ut the fruit o 1M-pe 
(kuki. wove), which is in effect the same word as Auk. * thes Shae 
the Cocoa-nut in having no juice inside ue eS Rae eee a anette 
ied to ts of both Palms, from the barky husk w 7 y are nded. 
may have been applied to the nuts o 8, fr Hite se Oa as Pee ie te 
S ‘1 ; for fir-cones. Perhaps the Greek xoxkos may 1 
The Copts had also the Grecized word kovkovvapia : : We need not, then 
cs ied it to much smaller fruits, or berries. e need not, ' 
the same word, though the Greeks only applied ee aire Gedi to: Paleimanie 
ivati : 1, see that the identical name was applied to s 
o to the Portuguese for the derivation of Cocoa, seeing abate | ae rens 
o the Eeyptians in the fourteenth eae ee es rn of Re st ees perce ay 
te Fe kee? : + g00, tr here bel ut one tree of the K 5 its ae 
a rarity in Heypt we may see from there eng : , Sante alae Cal ieeenaaee 
hile he had above a hundred each of the native Palms. For this reason ulso, as well . Pe es 
whue he hac ee 1 to tt tieal scribe a worthy symbol of bis patron deity. 
and refreshing character of its fruit, it gaan dhioneh for an affirmative answer, | should reply —There 
= ‘ . . + 7 ar ’ t € al e 4 Z 
apes oe ye eps} coe aot aed been cultivated at Thebes more than three thousand years 
Tea BOO SOY eee : T sis ry far distant from the sea to pre- 
ieties of r fa and Thebes is not 890 very to pre 
ago. Some varieties of the nut will grow far ae mit of it, Again, if the Cocoa-nut could be drifted in 
clude such a contingency: the ne eae : e a re he ee fh cieaiien iol Haatetie Baaaestie tie 
rt revalline Ww Sa r ; “a : i . 
mS aD et 5a ‘ tl ate three thousand years ago, when the distribution of land and 
no reason why it Up Ualce ave Sele oe eae > and the direction of the winds and currents was doubt- 
water must have been pretty much the arte at “Te aethestote not unlikely that the Cocoa-nut, if known 
less not different from what we find in our days. eae Re Havas —even Solomon’s fleet having brought 
. ; Saath d years ago, mig¢ht have found its way BYP"; ; : eaoenl tye et 
SSE ye cin BRO »y] nd other parts,—and might have been cultivated by : 
horas cieapacreyes renee es oe ne uite papaied £0 confirm the venture that the JZama- 
ventleman attached to horticulture. See ede CF the Coeoa-nut. The determinative appended to the 
en-khanent of the catalogue of the ae P eaantetaasty say is, that in outline it looks very much like 
hieroglyphio 1s very By aay ‘kin aie chasaisaa tion that the apostrophe in the Sallier Papyrus, page 5, 
Paneer arenes — a reed aint we have to deal with a Palm, the Musa fruit Beas a cate 
ies Bes i Te NE aa ea b sé uestion whether we have the rea 
ee Seah raters Et water inside the ei sane nme eyo TAN alia fe atau 
5 . ; ort sithe “wat sc § 
Cocoa-nut before us. What is popularly termed t ey va oe » tor to Leap to the term-—woild probabls 
=: and disappears on a pproaching maturl ‘Sa é , t ha would seem to imply 
CEE Tole ae ries fact that it was specially alluded to in the apostroph pe 
not be noticed in small fruit ; and the ae ts sia heiont of the tree mentioned in the papyrus (sixts 
Fee eee A aad by the Cocoa-nut tree in the tropics and ee ‘Th, Bota 1 
. : ‘ell with that usually at yes : Hi : ‘ lace situated like Th ‘ 
cubits) tallies well with ) ld attain its full dimensions in a place § Sd a te 
Lh hether that Palm wou Abbe . 4 etial region even in its favourite 
may be questioned w line for existence at the very edge of the equinoctit , F Californi: 
; s Ea ey ESTE. er uae , ds and the Gulf of California. 
have seen the tree strugg!ing 10" —for instance, the Sandwich Islands at er ss what 
: ighbourhood of the sea > fore be permitted to guess whi 
Rate in me other points a botanist vould Jay poll “he ee ey Boyt eee the Daal tie 
ere are + the Mama-en-khanent. a oO 
be meant by the 
other Palm ean possibly 
20 
[PUBLISHED JULY 31, 1868. 
