Storia do Mogor 265.22.8

265.22.8

They also make mats from the branches, and these serve as carpets to the natives of the country. They thatch houses with the leaves, and they are also used as decorations at festivals. Every month a new branch appears in the middle of the palm-tree, and the oldest one falls off. Each tree has about thirty branches, and amidst them comes out the flower, enclosed by nature in a shield about a cubit long, nearly ten inches in circumference, and coming to a sharp point. When it has reached its proper size, the covering opens and the flower shows in the shape of brooms. On each branch of the flower you see its fruit stuck on like buttons, and these, swelling until they are like nuts, are then called coquinhos (little coco-nut); they are used for many infantile complaints, such as diarrhoea and mouth-sores. When grown to the size of twenty-eight up to thirty inches round, and as much in length, they are called lanha. The nut is then full of a sweet water, a drink of which is very refreshing. It is used in inflammation of the liver, the kidneys, and the bladder, and increases urination. It is also good for excessive heat of the liver, pains in the bowels, or discharges of mucus or of blood ; it also refreshes in the season of great heat.