hundred uses for man."

The trees bear such heavy burdens of fruit that it seems impossible that
so slender a trunk could hold such a weight of fruit in the air. The
fruit is expensive when it comes to us, because of the difficulty in
climbing the trees, gathering the nuts, and removing from them the heavy
fibrous husks.

[Illustration: GATHERING COCOANUTS.]

Here is a negro gathering cocoanuts. Let us watch him. He climbs the
tall tree, dragging a rope after him. About his waist is a belt in which
is thrust a machete.

He hacks off a bunch of the nuts and attaches it to the end of the rope.
It is then lowered to another negro or to the ground. The nuts are in
bunches of a dozen or two, and are covered with a green, smooth, shining
covering.

After the bunches of nuts are all removed from the tree, the climber
throws down the rope and comes down hand over hand.

These nuts are so large that a single one often yields two glasses of
milk.

We found that the natives made boats and furniture, as well as houses,
from the trunk of this palm tree. They extract from its roots a remedy
for fever. The foot stalks of the leaves are made into combs. The leaves
are used for thatching huts and in making baskets, mats and hats.