Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 06).djvu/155

 where Spaniards have gone—one that has most caused wonder and fixed itself in the memory—is a tree called commonly the cocoa-palm. It is different from the date-palm, and with great reason, for it is a plant so useful and mysterious, that for instance, a ship has come to these islands, and not only the ship but everything in it—the merchandise, and the ropes, cordage, sails, masts, and nails—was made of this wood; its merchandise consisted of cloth, made from the bark with great dexterity and cunning. Even the food for the crew of thirty men, and their water, came from this tree. The merchants in the ship testified that throughout the entire island of Maldivia, whence they had come, no other food was gathered, nor is there any other food there, except that furnished by this tree. Houses with their roofs are made also from it. The fruit yields a very palatable and wholesome kernel, whose taste resembles green hazelnuts. By cutting the branch where the cocoa-nut grows—this nut is the principal fruit, and each one contains, as a rule, one cuartillo of the sweetest and most delicious water—all that substance flows down into the trunk of the tree. This is tapped with an auger, and all the liquid is collected from the hole. A great quantity is obtained, which, mixed with other ingredients, makes an excellent wine. This wine is drunk throughout the islands, and in the kingdom of China. From the water alone, vinegar is made, and from the kernel, as I have said, a very healing oil, and a milk resembling that of almonds, and very palatable honey and sugar. The palm possesses the above qualities, together with many other virtues. I have told them in part, because it is so remarkable a thing, and a cause of