e all three pushing through the underwood of the
forest, headed by Peterkin.

We soon came to the tree in question, which, after Jack had closely
examined it, we concluded must be the candle-nut tree. Its leaves were
of a beautiful silvery white, and formed a fine contrast to the
dark-green foliage of the surrounding trees. We immediately filled our
pockets with the nuts, after which Jack said:

"Now, Peterkin, climb that cocoa-nut tree and cut me one of the long
branches."

This was soon done; but it cost some trouble, for the stem was very
high, and as Peterkin usually pulled nuts from the younger trees, he was
not much accustomed to climbing the high ones. The leaf or branch was a
very large one, and we were surprised at its size and strength. Viewed
from a little distance, the cocoa-nut tree seems to be a tall, straight
stem, without a single branch except at the top, where there is a tuft
of feathery-looking leaves that seem to wave like soft plumes in the
wind. But when we saw one of these leaves or branches at our feet, we
found it to be a strong stalk, about fifteen feet long, with a number of
narrow, pointed leaflets ranged alternately on each side. But what
seemed to us the most wonderful thing about it was a curious substance
resembling cloth, which was wrapped round the thick end of the stalk
where it had been cut from the tree. Peterkin told us that he had the
greatest difficulty in separating the branch from the stem on account of
this substance, as it was wrapped quite round the tree, and, he
observed, round all the other branches, thus forming a strong support to
the large leaves while exposed to high winds. When I call this
substance cloth I do not exaggerate. Indeed, with regard to all the
things I saw during my eventful career in the South Seas, I have been
exceedingly careful not to exaggerate, or in any way to mislead or
deceive my readers. This cloth, I say, was remarkably like to coarse
brown cotton cloth. It had a seam or fibre down the centre of it, from
which diverged other fibres, about the size of a bristle. There were
two layers of these fibres, very long and tough, the one layer crossing
the other obliquely, and the whole was cemented together with a still
finer fibrous and adhesive substance. When we regarded it attentively,
we could with difficulty believe that it had not been woven by human
hands. This remarkable piece of cloth we stripped carefully off, and
found it to