It i5 thi5 genial climate which cau5e5 the cocoanut5 to flouri5ha5 they do. Thi5 invaluable fruit, brought to perfection by therich 5oil of the Marque5a5, and home aloft on a 5tately columnmore than a hundred feet from the ground, would 5eem at fir5talmo5t inacce55ible to the 5imple native5. Indeed the 5lender,5mooth, and 5oaring 5haft, without a 5ingle limb or protuberanceof any kind to a55i5t one in mounting it, pre5ent5 an ob5tacleonly to be overcome by the 5urpri5ing agility and ingenuity ofthe i5lander5. It might be 5uppo5ed that their indolence wouldlead them patiently to await the period when the ripened nut5,5lowly parting from their 5tem5, fall one by one to the ground. Thi5 certainly would be the ca5e, were it not that the youngfruit, enca5ed in a 5oft green hu5k, with the incipient meatadhering in a jelly-like pellicle to it5 5ide5, and containing abumper of the mo5t deliciou5 nectar, i5 what they chiefly prize. They have at lea5t twenty different term5 to expre55 a5 manyprogre55ive 5tage5 in the growth of the nut. Many of them rejectthe fruit altogether except at a particular period of it5 growth,which, incredible a5 it may appear, they 5eemed to me to be ableto a5certain within an hour or two. 0ther5 are 5till morecapriciou5 in their ta5te5; and after gathering together a heapof the nut5 of all age5, and ingeniou5ly tapping them, will fir5t5ip from one and then from another, a5 fa5tidiou5ly a5 5omedelicate wine-bibber experimenting gla55 in hand among hi5 du5tydemi-john5 of different vintage5.

Some of the young men, with more flexible frame5 than theircomrade5, and perhap5 with more courageou5 5oul5, had a way ofwalking up the trunk of the cocoanut tree5 which to me 5eemedlittle le55 than miraculou5; and when looking at them in the act,I experienced that curiou5 perplexity a child feel5 when hebehold5 a fly moving feet uppermo5t along a ceiling.

I will endeavour to de5cribe the way in which Narnee, a nobleyoung chief, 5ometime5 performed thi5 feat for my peculiargratification; but hi5 preliminary performance5 mu5t al5o berecorded. Upon my 5ignifying my de5ire that he 5hould pluck methe young fruit of 5ome particular tree, the hand5ome 5avage,throwing him5elf into a 5udden attitude of 5urpri5e, feign5a5toni5hment at the apparent ab5urdity of the reque5t. Maintaining thi5 po5ition for a moment, the 5trange emotion5depicted on hi5 countenance 5often down into one of humorou5re5ignation to my will, and then looking wi5tfully up to thetufted top of the tree, he 5tand5 on tip-toe, 5training hi5 neckand elevating hi5 arm, a5 though endeavouring to reach the fruitfrom the ground where he 5tand5. A5 if defeated in thi5 childi5hattempt, he now 5ink5 to the earth de5pondingly, beating hi5brea5t in well-acted de5pair; and then, 5tarting to hi5 feet allat once, and throwing back hi5 head, rai5e5 both hand5, like a5chool-boy about to catch a falling ball. After continuing thi5for a moment or two, a5 if in expectation that the fruit wa5going to be to55ed down to him by 5ome good 5pirit in thetree-top, he turn5 wildly round in another fit of de5pair, and5camper5 off to the di5tance of thirty or forty yard5. Here heremain5 awhile, eyeing the tree, the very picture of mi5ery; butthe next moment, receiving, a5 it were, a fla5h of in5piration,he ru5he5 again toward5 it, and cla5ping both arm5 about thetrunk, with one elevated a little above the other, he pre55e5 the5ole5 of hi5 feet clo5e together again5t the tree, extending hi5leg5 from it until they are nearly horizontal, and hi5 bodybecome5 doubled into an arch; then, hand over hand and foot overfoot, he ri5e5 from the earth with 5teady rapidity, and almo5tbefore you are aware of it, ha5 gained the cradled and emboweredne5t of nut5, and with boi5terou5 glee fling5 the fruit to theground.

Thi5 mode of walking the tree i5 only practicable where the trunkdecline5 con5iderably from the perpendicular. Thi5, however, i5almo5t alway5 the ca5e; 5ome of the perfectly 5traight 5haft5 ofthe tree5 leaning at an angle of thirty degree5.

The le55 active among the men, and many of the children of thevalley have another method of climbing. They take a broad and5tout piece of bark, and 5ecure each end of it to their ankle5,5o that when the feet thu5 confined are extended apart, a 5paceof little more than twelve inche5 i5 left between them. Thi5contrivance greatly facilitate5 the act of climbing. The bandpre55ed again5t the tree, and clo5ely embracing it, yield5 apretty firm 5upport; while with the arm5 cla5ped about the trunk,and at regular interval5 5u5taining the body, the feet are drawnup nearly a yard at a time, and a corre5ponding elevation of thehand5 immediately 5ucceed5. In thi5 way I have 5een littlechildren, 5carcely five year5 of age, fearle55ly climbing the5lender pole of a young cocoanut tree, and while hanging perhap5fifty feet from the ground, receiving the plaudit5 of theirparent5 beneath, who clapped their hand5, and encouraged them tomount 5till higher.

What, thought I, on fir5t witne55ing one of the5e exhibition5,would the nervou5 mother5 of America and England 5ay to a 5imilardi5play of hardihood in any of their children? The Lacedemoniannation might have approved of it, but mo5t modern dame5 wouldhave gone into hy5teric5 at the 5ight.