Chapter COCO-DE-MER of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

experience shows that the inner husk of this is much more efficacious against poison than the Bezoar stone.”—Barros, III. iii. 7.

1563.—“The common story is that those islands were formerly part of the continent, but being low they were submerged, whilst these palm - trees continued in situ; and growing very old they produced such great and very hard coco-nuts, buried in the earth which is now covered by the sea. … When I learn anything in contradiction of this I will write to you in Portugal, and anything that I can discover here, if God grant me life; for I hope to learn all about the matter when, please God, I make my journey to Malabar. And you must know that these cocos come joined two in one, just like the hind quarters of an animal.”—Garcia, f. 70–71.

1572.—

“Nas ilhas de Maldiva nasce a planta
No profundo das aguas soberana,
Cujo pomo contra o veneno urgente
He tido por antidoto excellente.”

Camões, x. 136.

c.1610.—“Il est ainsi d’vne certaine noix que la mer iette quelques fois à bord, qui est grosse comme la teste d’vn homme qu’on pourroit comparer à deux gros melons ioints ensemble. Ils la noment Tauarcarré, et ils tiennent que cela vient de quelques arbres qui sont sous la mer … quand quelqu’vn deuient riche tout à coup et en peu de temps, on dit communement qu’il a trouué du Tauarcarré ou de l’ambre.”—Pyrard de Laval, i. 163; [Hak. Soc. i. 230].

? 1650.—In Piso’s Mantissa Aromatica, &c., there is a long dissertation, extending to 23 pp., De Tavarcare seu Nuce Medicâ Maldivensium.

1678.—“P.S. Pray remember y^e Coquer nutt Shells (doubtless Coco-de-Mer) and long nulls (?) formerly desired for y^e Prince.”—Letter from Dacca, quoted under CHOP.

c. 1680.—“Hicitaque Calappus marinus² non est fructus terrestris qui casu in mare procidit … uti Garcias ab Orta persuadere voluit, sed fructus est in ipso crescens mari, cujus arbor, quantum scio, hominum oculis ignota et occulta est.”—Rumphius, Lib. xii. cap. 8.

1763.—“By Durbar charges paid for the following presents to the Nawab, as per Order of Consultation, the 14th October, 1762.

1 Sea cocoa nut......Rs. 300 0 0.”

In Long, 308.

1777.—“Cocoa - nuts from the Maldives, or as they are called the Zee Calappers, are said to be annually brought hither (to Colombo) by certain messengers, and presented, among other things, to the Governor. The kernel of the fruit … is looked upon here as a very efficacious antidote or a sovereign remedy against the Flux, the Epilepsy and Apoplexy. The inhabitants of the Maldives call it Tavarcare. …”—Travels of Charles Peter Thunberg, M.D. (E.T.) iv. 209.

[1833.—“The most extraordinary and valuable production of these islands (Seychelles) is the Coco Do Mar, or Maldivia nut, a tree which, from its singular character, deserves particular mention. …”—Owen, Narrative, ii. 166 seqq.]

1882.—“Two minor products obtained by the islanders from the sea require notice. These are ambergris (M. goma, mávaharu) and the so- called ‘sea-cocoanut’ (M. távakárhi) … rated at so high a value in the estimation of the Maldive Sultans as to be retained as part of their royalties.”—H.C.P. Bell (Ceylon C. S.) Report on the Maldive Islands, p. 87.

1883.—“… sailed straight into the coco-de-mer valley, my great object. Fancy a valley as big as old Hastings, quite full of the great yellow stars! It was almost too good to believe. … Dr. Hoad had a nut cut down for me. The outside husk is shaped like a mango. … It is the inner nut which is double. I ate some of the jelly from inside; there must have been enough to fill a soup-tureen—of the purest white, and not bad.”—(Miss North) in Pall Mall Gazette, Jan. 21, 1884.