But the probability of the nuts being thrown upon the
strand, and far enough from the shore to find suitable conditions for
their germination, is a very small one. To insure [86] healthy and
vigorous seedlings the nuts must be fully ripe, after which planting
cannot be safely delayed for more than a few weeks. If kept too moist
the nuts rot. If once on the shore, and allowed to lie in the sun, they
become overheated and are thereby destroyed; if thrown in the shade of
other shrubs and trees, the seedlings do not find the required
conditions for a vigorous growth.
Some authors have taken the fibrous rind to be especially adapted to
transport by sea, but if this were so, this would argue that water is
the normal or at least the very frequent medium of dissemination, which
of course it is not. We may, claim with quite as much right that the
thick husk is necessary to enable the heavy fruit to drop from tall
trees with safety. But even for this purpose the protection is not
sufficient, as the nuts often suffer from falling to such a degree as to
be badly injured as to their germinating qualities. It is well known
that nuts, which are destined for propagation, are as a rule not allowed
to fall off, but are taken from the trees with great care.
Summing up his arguments, Cook concludes that there is little in the way
of known facts to support the poetic theory of the coconut palm dropping
its fruits into the sea to float away to barren islands and prepare them
for [87] human habitation.
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