. Three voyages of a naturalist : being an account of many little-known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla" . ult. The general colour of its plumage was asooty-brown with a yellowish wash on the chinand throat, and a distinct greenish sheen on thewing. As no more parrots appeared, we startedback for the ship. I was told by one native thathe had never seen more than ten of these parrotstogether at a time, but Mons. Boulle assured methat he had quite recently seen a hundredsitting together in this particular magnolia tree,which is the only one of its kind on the island. Next
. Three voyages of a naturalist : being an account of many little-known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla" . ult. The general colour of its plumage was asooty-brown with a yellowish wash on the chinand throat, and a distinct greenish sheen on thewing. As no more parrots appeared, we startedback for the ship. I was told by one native thathe had never seen more than ten of these parrotstogether at a time, but Mons. Boulle assured methat he had quite recently seen a hundredsitting together in this particular magnolia tree,which is the only one of its kind on the island. Next day we steamed across to Felicite, asmall island given over to the cultivation ofcocoanut trees, with which it is for the most partcovered. We were conducted over it bv theowner, Mr. Birgne. The most interesting birdhere was the fruit-pigeon of the same species asthat found on Mahe. It was extremely abundant,owing entirely to the care Mr. Birgne had takento preserve it. He told me that he never allowedit to be caught or molested in any way. On returning to Praslin we landed in MarieLouise Bay, at the foot of the Coco de Mer. COCO DE MER, TRASLIN ISLAND, SEYCHELLES. [132] THE COCO DE MER 133 Valley, and spent the afternoon amongst theseremarkable double-cocoanut trees, which arefound in a wild state nowhere except in this onesmall valley. They are not so tall as the commoncocoanut trees, but the leaves are much largerand of a great breadth. The fruit is of immensesize, somewhat resembling a huge double-cocoanut,and is said to take many years to ripen ; its kernelis of a grey jelly-like substance, and the taste isvery insipid—far inferior to that of the commoncocoanut. The principal use to which the nutis put is for the manufacture of bowls for wateror food; the shells, when split in half, makecapacious basins or dishes, and are largely usedby the natives of India for rice. The first description of the Coco de Mer wasgiven to some of the fruit found floating in theopen sea, wh
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