Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1889-10-11
Where 1t is Found-How 1t Grows
Its Strange Appearance
Many Uses to Which
1t is Put.

group. At one time CurleuSe and FTaS-
lin were covered with the trees, but trav-
elers who have recently visited the islands
say that the vegetable wonder has van
ished from the first, but is plentiful on
the second. One of these explorers
was Colonel Nicholas Pike, for
seven years United States
consul at the island of Mauritius, which
is nine hundred miles distant, and to
which colony the Seychelles group be-
longs. In describing his impressions of
the tree, he says: "The first appearance
of the curious Coco de Mer is disappoint-
ing, and at a distance looks quite dis
reputable for so famous tree. I'm
agine tall thin stem towering up over a
hundred feet, with great ragged head
of green and withered leaves. The i'm
preston is not favorable, common
cocoanut tree is handsomer These, how
ever, are the male trees; the females are
rarely over sixty or seventy feet, and not
being SO high are less exposed to the
winds. When about twenty or twenty
five years DID, before the stems begin to
rise, it is certainly one of the loveliest
productions of the vegetable world, and
here it is seen in all its beauty"
The leaves of the Coco de Mer are
winged and palmated, and when the
stem is just rising above the ground, in
favorable situations, they attain a length
of fifteen feet exclusive of the petiole,
which is of an equal length and twelve
feet wide, but both diminish in size as
the trunk increases in height. This is a
necessity, as the tall thin stem could not
support a head of such large leaves and
the heavy fruit which the tree bears
Travellers often give the natives small
sums of money, for which they will climb
the trees and swing upon the great leaves
"A feat attended with much danger, con-
sidering the great height of the leaves
from the ground.
Before the leaves unfold they are
covered with thick cottony substance
which is used for mattresses. When
about thirty-tive years old the tree be-
gins to blossom. After three years from
formulation, the fruit has attained its
full size. 1t can be cut with knife
in this stage, but gradually be-
comes hard and black, but it is seven or
eight years from time of formulation be-
fore it is ready to fall The double nut,
with the husk around it and when fully
developed, is about the size of a bushel
basket. The meat of the nut is agree
able eating, and tastes like the cream of
charlotte russo. The shell of the nut is
used by the natives for scoop buckets,
and is put to variety of other uses.
These immense nuts used to be found
floating in the Indian Ocean, and gave
rise to any number of fabulous stories in
regard to their origin. 1t was claimed
by many that they grew in the sea, but
this claim, of course, was easily refuted
but, nevertheless, this popularity is kept
in remembrance by the name which the
tree bears, Coco de Mcr, or cocoanut. of
the sea.
When the nut falls to the ground, the
first act in the future trees life is perhaps
as wonderful as anything in its future his
tory. 1t takes nine months after plant
ing before the germ is ready to start,
when it shoots out from the nut and
creeps along she ground, drawing nutri-
ment from the ground as it goes. When
a distance of some twenty feet has been
covered, it begins to shoot upward and
to put forth leaves, each leaf requiring a
years elaboration in sun and air before
the next appears. If the nut does not
fall germ downward and meet the ground
so as to draw substance from it, after an
Intellectual struggle for some few feet on
the surface all vitality is exhausted, and
the vegetable baby dies from the heat OF
the sun and the lack of moisture. An
other remarkable fact regarding the Coco
de Mer is that it rests in perforated
bowl which in form resembles acolander
A great number of rootlets radiate from
.he trunk and run through holes in the
bowl and then extend into the earth,
sometimes for thirty feet. When violent
winds blow, as they frequently do in this
region, the tree, being tall and slender
with great bunch of heavy leaves and
nuts forming "A great bouquet on its top
bends over until it seems as if it must
fall. but rights itself again, its long roots
seeming to act like elastics, which draw