. Its roots, like those of the asparagus plant, are small and
innumerable, seeking sustenance by means of these tentacles which
expand irregularly in all directions.

The fan palm is to be seen in California, but it is of inferior
growth, and is not indigenous there. At the north of Ceylon, the
palmyra palm prevails, while the south and southwest coast are
literally lined with large and thrifty groves of cocoanut palms, the
value of whose products is immense. The care and rendering of these
gives employment and support to whole villages of natives. Unlike the
date, the cocoanut palm bears male and female buds on the same
branches. The last-named tree thrives best, and bears most fruit, when
growing near the salt water, a peculiarity which does not apply
specially to other members of this family.

It is a fact worthy of mention that the cocoanut palm, like the camel,
is always found associated with man. There are no wild camels, and the
cocoanut-tree does not flourish in the wilderness. It is most at home
when its tall, smooth gray stem inclines gracefully, heavy with fruit,
over some native, rudely thatched cabin, a picture which is constantly
repeating itself in the southern part of Ceylon.

On first approaching the island, it is seen that the shore is
palm-fringed from Dondra Head to Colombo, and even far north of the
latter place. The picturesque cocoanut groves come down close to the
sea, from which they are separated only by a golden belt of yellow
sand, over which the trees incline gracefully, with their broad,
plume-like foliage half hiding the ripening clusters of russet-clad
fruit hanging fifty or sixty feet skyward. The salt spray of the
Indian Ocean impregnates the atmosphere when the monsoons blow,
stimulating the palms to unwonted vigor and fruitfulness. So uniform
is their growth along the level shore that the tall white trunks with
their feathery crowns seem to stand in closed ranks like a line of
soldiers at "parade rest."

The reason of the extensive geographical distribution of the cocoanut
palm is doubtless from its growing in such close proximity to the sea.
The ripe nut falls upon the shore and is floated by tide and wind to
other islands and coral reefs, where in due course it propagates
itself and in turn begets other seeds which seek new lands in a
similar manner and there plant themselves. The small islets of the
Indian Ocean and the South Pacific have thus become heavily wooded
from chance