People's voice., 1894-09-07
CccoANUTs OF THE SEA.
A truit Which Grows onlr in the Island,
of the SEYCHELLES Grouu.

'rult Which Grows unlg In the Island
of the Seychelles Group.
Tue coco-de-mer or doub.a.cocos
nut palm tree is one of the iarges
and most remarkable palms. 1t is
native OF and only found OH smal
group oi islands called the Sey
ehslles. These form an archipelago
In almost the middle OF the Indiar
ocean consisting q about eighty
islands. SeyrhclIc, are tie home oI
the so-ca!lcd sea cocoa:u: o. Maldive
double cOcOanut-ti- cncU-tic-mer. II
is the fruit of u peculiar aid remark,
ably fine specie, OF the palm tribe,
indigenous to and only found on
certain smaller island, Of the group.
AM nowhere else in the world.
Botanists give it the name Lodoicea
Sehchellarum.
The fruit is a large. dou le, oblong,
kidney-sbapeJ nut. covered with q
thin husk. After the removal Of
this the fruit has the appearance OF
two oblong nuts firmly joined
together for over half their length,
and which often weighs from thirty
to forty pounds. They are borne in
punches. each consisting OF nine or
ten nuts, so that whole bunch will
often weigh 4)) pounds. 1t takes
ten years to ripen its fruit, the al
bumen of which is similar in appear
ance and lines the inner surface of
the nut, but, unlike that OF the COM
mon cOcOanut, is too hard and horny
to serve as food. The she'll is con-
Verted into many useful and orna-
mental articles by the island natives.
But the most important part is tho
leaves, which are made into hats
and baskets
So great has the demand been of
late years for these that to obtain
them the trees were cut down, and,
no care being taken to extend new
plantations, in 1864 the leading bot
anlsts in England petitioned the gov
ernment for protection against this
wasteful destruction, for fear that
the slow growing, unique species
would eventually become extinct 1t
appears, however, from recent in
formation that in one of these islands
alone there are many thousands of the
trees.
1t is true that for many centuries
the fruit of this palm tree was
known only from specimens of it,
which, floating out to sea from the
islands, were borne to and cast upon
the Maldive and other coasts, the
islands, the home OF the tree, being
at that period unknown. So rare,
curious and mysterious a fruit was
held in high regard and esteemed,
not only for supposed religious
significance, but In medicine it was
believed to be sovereign antedote
TO poison. From its rarity it COM
1nanded a good price IN the Orient
The husk of the nut is a black. rind-
like substance, quarter of an inch
thick. Under this is a shell some
thing in character and thickness
like the ordinary edible cocoanut.
The kernel of the nut lines the in
terror of the shell to thickness OF
about an inch.
The cOcO-de-mer was of old be-
heved by the superstitlOus Orientals
to be the fruit of some submarine
palm tree. Rare finds of such nuts
as were thrown up Oh the seashore
were valued by the Brahmin and
HiudOo fakirs or mendicant priests,
who, cutting them apart. would dec
crate the polished halves with bands
OF carving in low relief of inscrip-
tions from the Hindoo scriptures.
So finished, these formed valued and
sacred begging bowls, in which men,
dlcant priests received aims of money
or food