CONSIDER THE COCONUT PALM TREE
The oak may be sturdier, the sequoia taller, the willow more willowy, but no tree is as useful as the coconut palm, the veritable staff of life in the South Pacific.
- It provides the South Sea islander with milk and delicate white meat; the ripe coconut is the copra, his chief article of trade; it is also good food for himself, either raw or cooked with other things
- It supplies food for his chickens and pigs, and makes excellent fish bait
- The coconut palm gives oil for the islander's hair and skin
- The dried shell of the nut, when polished, makes drinking cups, water bottles and oil flasks
- The outside brown covering of the shell makes a first class cap
- The fibre surrounding the nut is twisted into cord and rope, used for binding together rafts and building houses
- The sap drawn from the tree makes several kinds of stimulating drinks
- The young leaves at the top make a salad that is sometimes called “millionnaire's salad”, for it is only obtainable if the tree is killed - and coconut trees are valuable things
- The sheath at the base of the leaf is like a coarse burlap and is used for wrapping
- The leaves make the thatched walls of native huts, the mats that cover the floors, and baskets of all kinds
- The midrib is used for fence palings; the tree trunk for posts and rafters
- Strips of green leaf are often used to make gutters
These are only a few of the uses of this utilitarian tree. But how can you say “utilitarian”? What is more romantic than a clump of these graceful trees whispering in the soft breeze around a dreamy lagoon on the South Seas? Such scenes are waiting for their winter rendezvous with you on the Caronia cruise.
[Produced for the Great World Cruise departing New York 29 January 1966]