The legendary history of the "Prince of Palms," [1] as it has been
called, dates back to a period when the Christian era was young,
and its history is developing day by day in some new and striking
manifestation of its utility or beauty. It seems not unreasonable to
assume that much of the earlier traditionary history of the cocoanut
may have been inspired as much by its inherent beauty as by its
uses. Such traditional proverbs Or folklore as I have gathered in
the Visayas recognize the influence of the beautiful, in so far as
the blessings of the trees only inure to the good; for instance,
"He who is cruel to his beast or his family will only harvest barren
husks from the reproving trees that witness the pusillanimous act;"
and, again, "He who grinds the poor will only grind water instead of
fat oil from the meat."
To this day the origin of the cocoanut is unknown. De Candolle (Origin
of Cult. Plants, p. 574) recites twelve specific claims pointing to
an Asiatic origin, and a single, but from a scientific standpoint
almost unanswerable, contention for an American derivation. None of
the remaining nineteen species of the genus Cocos are known to exist
elsewhere in the world than on the American continent. His review of
the story results in the nature of a compromise, assigning to our
own Islands and those to the south and west of us the distinction
of having first given birth to the cocoanut, and that thence it was
disseminated east and west by ocean currents.