1522.—"They also related to us that beyond Java Major ... there is an enormous tree named Campanganghi, in which dwell certain birds named Garuda, so large that they take with their claws, and carry away flying, a buffalo and even an elephant, to the place of the tree.... The fruit of this tree is called Buapanganghi, and is larger than a water-melon ... it was understood that those fruits which are frequently found in the sea came from that place."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. p. 155.
1553.—"... it appears ... that in some places beneath the salt-water there grows another kind of these trees, which gives a fruit bigger than the coco-nut; and experience shows that the inner husk of this is much more efficacious against poison than the Bezoar stone."—Barros, III. iii. 7.
1563.—"The common story is that those islands were formerly part of the continent, but being low they were submerged, whilst these palm-trees continued in situ; and growing very old they produced such great and very hard coco-nuts, buried in the earth which is now covered by the sea.... When I learn anything in contradiction of this I will write to you in Portugal, and anything that I can discover here, if God grant me life; for I hope to learn all about the matter when, please God, I make my journey to Malabar. And you must know that these cocos come joined two in one, just like the hind quarters of an animal."—Garcia, f. 70-71.
1572.—
"Nas ilhas de Maldiva nasce a planta
No profundo das aguas soberana,
Cujo pomo contra o veneno urgente
He tido por antidoto excellente."
Camões, x. 136.
c. 1610.—"Il est ainsi d'vne certaine noix que la mer iette quelques fois à bord, qui est grosse comme la teste d'vn homme qu'on pourroit comparer à deux gros melons ioints ensemble. Ils la nom̃ent Tauarcarré, et ils tiennent que cela vient de quelques arbres qui sont sous la mer ... quand quelqu'vn deuient riche tout à coup et en peu de temps, on dit communement qu'il a trouué du Tauarcarré ou de l'ambre."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 163; [Hak. Soc. i. 230].