Corals and coral islands.

THE COMPLETED A TOLL.

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fruit. The husk is excellent for cordage, twine, thread, fishing-lines; and the smaller cord serves in place of nails for
securing together the beams of their domestic and public
buildings, and also for ornamenting the structure within, the
cord being often wound with much taste and diversity of figures. The nut, when opened, is a ready-made drinking-cup
or cooking utensil. Finally, the developing bud, before
blossoming, yields a large supply of sweet juice, from which
molasses is sometimes made, and then, by fermentation, a
spirituous liquor, called among the Gilbert Islanders by a
name that sounded very much like toddy, and possessing
qualities that answer to the name; but this is procured at
the expense of the fruit, and the good of the tree, and also
of the best interests of the natives.
It is doubted whether the ocean is ever successful in planting the cocoanut on coral islands. The nut seems to be well
fitted for marine transportation, through its thick husk, which
serves both as a float and a protection; but there is no known
evidence that an island never inhabited has been found supplied with cocoanut trees. The possibility of a successful
planting by the waves cannot be denied; but there are so
many chances that the floating nut will be kept too long in
the water, or be thrown where it cannot germinate, that the
probability of a transplanting is exceedingly small. This
palm - the Cocos nucifera of the botanists - is not included
in the above list of native Coral Island plants.
Another tree, peculiarly fitted for the region, is the Pandanus or Screw-Pine -well named as far as the syllable screw
goes, but having nothing of a pine in its habit. Its long
sword-like leaves, of the shape and size of those of a large
Iris, are set spirally on the few awkward branches toward
the extremity of each, and make a tree strikingly tropical in