Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/576

 Scychellarum), whose fruit, however, ripens only in the two islands of Praslin and Curieuse. This fruit, consisting of two nuts in a single case, remains fresh for months, and is thus often borne by the currents to the coasts of India, and even

as far as Java and other Malay islands, where it was gathered as a priceless treasure, and supposed to come from the depths of the ocean, hence the name of "sea cocuanut" given to it by seafarers. The wood of the lodoicea is so hard that objects made of it are almost indestructible.