566
A DISCOURSE
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book xv. thread, cloth, cups, dishes, spoons, and other vefsels and utensils;
baskets, mats, umbrellas, paper, brooms, ropes, sails, and almost all that
the Palm-tree called Coco : The natives distinguish them by particular names, and reckonup eight sorts, all different in their trunks, leaves, fruit, profit, and appearance, yet enjoythe general name of Palm-trees, having I know not what likenels, by which they lay claimto it, besides the proper name of each species.
“The chiefest and most famous, and which best retains the property of the Palm-tree, isthat which bears Cocoes; of these some are wild, some cultivated, some, but few, calledBarcas, which amongst them signify excellent; and when they knavishly put off any thingfor excellent, they say it is Barca. The Nut Barca is savoury, wholesome, not to be sur-feited on, though eaten in never so great a quantity; but as all trees are not Barcas, sonot all the nuts; and the same tree bears Barcas and others: The natives distinguish andvery much value them. The Nut Barca, when crude and unripe, is called Lanha Taugi(i. e.) excellent and sweet; is refreshing, wholesome, of great use in fevers. If the rootsof this tree touch the sea, or any brackish water, the bearing is very much improved.Of the other seven sorts, some are esteemed wild, from their fruit, soil, and the littlemanuring they require. The tree called Cajura, is the peculiar one which bears Dates ;though' in India this tree yields none, but affords a certain liquor which they distil, and ofit make wine. Another sort named Trefulim, from her fruit of the same name, Arequeira,of whose leaves are made great umbrellas, large enough to shelter one or two men fromthe rigour of the sun or rain, without which none could travel: There are lefs, for thesame use, like our umbrellas, which also keep off the rain. This tree yields no fruit.There is another tree (the name not much in use,) which by the leaf, trunk, and make, isof the race of Palm-trees ; the fruit is called de Raposa, (i. e.) the Foxes fruit; eaten, ofno good taste, such a crab as never ripens, and if brought to maturity would prove a wildDate, being so in the form, colour, bunch, or cluster. The tree called Berlim, bears nofruit, only used for adorning churches; the boughs of so fit a size and proportion for thisuse, as if solely created by God Almighty for his service, not of lefs esteem and value, be-cause serviceable to divine worship; this dedication supplies the defect of fruit for theservice of man, and may reasonably rank the tree above the fruitfuL The last the earthproduceth, called Macomeira, is without doubt a species of the Palm-tree ; her fruit inclusters of thirty or more, every one as big as an ordinary apple; when ripe, of a date-colour, and very grateful, the rind as hard as tow, oftener sucked than eaten ; if swallowed, •of very hard digestion ; in scent, exceeding the Camoesa*: the stone, called Coquinho,very hard, though green, is sovereign against many diseases.
“ These are the Palm-trees the earth produceth, which challenge a right in that name.The sea affords one, which, though at the bottom of the deep, and so undiscovered, the fruitcalled Coco, and surnamed Maldiva, (because the sea about those islands affords thatplant in greatest abundance) gives us the information. The Maldives are a ridge of greatand small islands, reaching near two hundred leagues, are counted from North to Southdistant from the shore, thirty or forty leagues; the natives affirm them to be eleven thou-
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