Pandanus

“ Above such hopeful sands lies a band formed of stag's-horn coral, bleached snow-white, each time lying at right angles to the sea, and higher up on the strand are blocks and lumps of weather-stained coral among which vegetation is springing. A few yards further back stands a group of Pandanus palms, the van of the dense and intricate jungle covering rock and ridge. ”

“ These structures and habits of growth fit the Pandanus for its especial habitat on the shores of tropical islands, to which its masses of nuts are drifted by the winds and currents, and on whose shores it can establish itself by the aid of its aërial roots. ”

“ Once through the sandy stretch on which the pandanus loves to grow, we came to the outlier of the mountain lands—low, gently undulating ridges, covered on both sides of the narrow track with dense thickets of pineapples, every plant bearing a fruit half-matured, which, when ripened, was never touched by the hand of man, for the whole island was, in places, covered with thickets such as this, and the wild pig only revelled among them.
“They grow thickly,” I said to Nalik. ”

“ The sea-side locality of the Pandaneæ, causes many of their fruits to fall into the water, wherein they are drifted by the winds and waves, until they find a resting place upon some distant shore. A single drupe of Pandanus, thus charged with seeds, transports the elements of vegetation to the rising volcanic and coral islands of the modern Pacific. The seed thus stranded upon new formed land, produces a plant which has peculiar provision for its support on a surface destitute of soil by long and large aerial roots protruded above the ground around the lower part of its trunk. ”

“ The genus Pandanus, or screw-pine, has sixteen species in the three islands—Mauritius, Rodriguez, and the Seychelles—all being peculiar, and none ranging beyond a single island. Of palms there are fifteen species belonging to ten genera, and all these genera are peculiar to the islands. We have here ample evidence that plants exhibit the same anomalies of distribution in these islands as do the animals, though in a smaller proportion ”

“ The “pota” has broad leaves, with contracted acuminate apices, two inches long: the fruit is about a foot in diameter: aerial roots are always present, and rise often fifteen [303] feet from the ground. The segments of these pandanus trees all contain edible kernels. The broad leaves of the “pota” are employed in making mats. . . . There is another pandanus tree, the “samala” of the natives, which often grows away from the coast, as on the banks of streams: it has an erect, stout trunk, thirty-five to forty feet high, without aerial roots, and does not branch. ”

“ As the sun rose and diffused its rays around, a great number of butterflies, beetles, and other insects passed away in enjoyment their short fleeting lives, and revelled upon the sweets the flowers contained. A lofty species of Pandanus, named by the Malays Ninpuan, was very abundant in moist situations; it rose with its long foliage bending at the extremities, and as the tree increased in elevation it bore a closer resemblance to the growth of the palm tree, and attained the height of forty and fifty feet. ”

“ Mat-making is one of the occupations of the women of the Straits, the material employed being the thick leaves of a species of Pandanus which is known by the natives as the pota. The leaves are first deprived of their thin polished epidermis by being rubbed over with the leaves of a plant, named sansuti, which have a rough surface giving a sensation like that caused by fine emery paper when passed over the skin. The pandanus leaves are then dried in the sun, when they become whitened and leathery, and are then sewn together into mats. ”

“ Pandanus Tree, Screw Pine.—The Pandanus Freycinctia natural order of Pandaneæ. There are about fifty species of this tree, natives of South Africa to Polynesia. The pandanus tree of Tahiti is a palm-like tree which is found along the shore close to the water's edge, with a short white stem, much branched with long, simple imbricated leaves, usually spiny on the back and margin, their base embracing the stem, their spiral arrangement being well marked. The base of the stem does not touch the ground, but rests on a cluster of strong roots, which diverge somewhat before they strike the soil. ”

“ Thus the natives of the Bougainville Straits often designate all the species by the term Sararang. In the Indian Archipelago, the general names are Pandan, Haragh-hagh, Harassas, Pudak, Rampai, &c. These are the names which would be applied to any new kind of pandanus-tree during the migration eastward of the races of this archipelago; and it is manifest that as the separate Pacific groups of islands came to be occupied by different offshoots of the main migration, the same tree might have received a different general name. ”

“ It is doubtful whether Pandanus odoratissimus, the shore-tree of the tropical beaches of the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans, of Australia, Malaya, and Southern Asia, can aid us much in any one locality, since its distribution has no doubt been often assisted by man. Yet it is probable that the currents have played a predominant part in its dispersal. Its fruits occur commonly in beach-drift, both in the Indian and Pacific oceans, and are often incrusted with serpulæ, polyzoa, and cirripedes. At certain seasons the currents bring them to Keeling Atoll in abundance. ”

“ The most fragrant of the Pandanus palms is plentiful, the fruit forming the chief part of the vegetable diet of the lean and stunted inhabitants, who find difficulty in fashioning weapons with which to obtain fish and turtle, the land failing to supply straight sticks of the length needed for spears. Each has to be spliced. The islands are expressed in the race they sustain—possibly the lowest of Australian types. ”

“ The limited powers of flight possessed by existing species would unfit them for crossing wide tracts of sea; but the parent form or forms of all these species must have been able to traverse broad tracts of ocean. These birds subsist on fallen fruits, seeds, &c.; but I have no data relating to them as seed-dispersers.
It is evident from the endemic character of most of the species of Pandanus in oceanic islands that, except with a few widely-spread littoral species, the dispersal of the genus has been for ages suspended. ”

“ The westernmost island is inhabited by about thirty persons in all, mainly of the family and attendants of the Chief of Puynipet, who claims proprietorship of the whole group. This scanty population is chiefly engaged in the construction of mats and canoe-sails made of the leaves of the pandanus. ”

“ In my Pantheon, Pan still reigns in his pristine glory, with his ruddy face, his flowing beard, and his shaggy body, his pipe and his crook, his nymph Echo, and his chosen daughter Iambe; for the great God Pan is not dead, as was rumored. Perhaps of all the gods of New England and of ancient Greece, I am most constant at his shrine.
It seems to me that the god that is commonly worshipped in civilized countries is not at all divine, though he bears a divine name, but is the overwhelming authority and respectability of mankind combined. Men reverence one another, not yet God. ”

“ Pandans are valued chiefly for their strong fibrous leaves, which are woven into mats, bags, and hats. Unless specially prepared, the soft plant tissue between the harder leaf fibers becomes dry and dirty and breaks in time; hence the ordinary pandan bag or mat can not be considered a durable article. However, when treated to a boiling process or when rolled, as explained for sabutan and the pandan of Majayjay, the leaves yield straw which is stronger and more durable than most palm or sedge straw used for the same purposes. ”

“ And besides these, there were ranges of salas and tamalas and patalas and vakula trees, like unto garlands put on by the summits of mountain. Thus gradually beholding on the slopes of the mountain many lakes, looking transparent like crystal, and having swans of white plumage and resounding with cries of cranes, and filled with lotuses and lilies, and furnished with waters of delicious feel; and also beholding fragrant flowers, and luscious fruits, and romantic lakes, and captivating trees, the Pandavas penetrated into the forest with eyes expanded with wonder. ”

“ Bearing in mind this middle row of spines it is impossible to mistake the leaf of the pandan for that of the pineapple or maguey, which it resembles more or less in form and shape. Another very prominent feature of pandans is the presence of air or prop roots which grow from the stem above the ground and are helpful to the plant in various ways. The veins of the leaves always run parallel and in a longitudinal direction. The leaves are never borne on a petiole, but are attached directly, in winding corkscrew fashion, in ranks of three, to the stem. ”

“ If it is permitted to us to do so we would repudiate [Pg 205] it. [The gods in silence signify their assent.]
Zeus [not replying to Heracles] .
When we fled hither from the consuming malignity of the traitor, it was communicated to me that this island on the very uttermost border of the world was left us as a home from which we should never be dislodged. Here we were to dwell in peace, and here ... to grow old, and ... die. Here, in the meantime, new interests, humble wishes, cheerful curiosities have already twined about us, and we have gazed upon Pandora's jewel, and are no more the same. ”

“ Truly, said Pantagruel, you tell us no news; we see five hundred such changes, and more, every year, in our world. Then reflecting on the different manner of going of those moving ways, he told us he believed that Philolaus and Aristarchus had philosophized in this island, and that Seleucus (Motteux reads—‘that some, indeed, were of opinion.’) , indeed, was of opinion the earth turns round about its poles, and not the heavens, whatever we may think to the contrary; as, when we are on the river Loire, we think the trees and the shore moves, though this is only an effect of our boat’s motion. ”

“ And it is said that Pandion died there of illness, and his tomb is near the sea in Megara, on the rock that is called the rock of Athene the Diver. But his sons returned from exile at Megara, and expelled the Metionidæ, and Ægeus, being the eldest, had the sovereignty over the Athenians. Pandion also reared daughters, but not with good fortune, nor had they any sons to avenge him. And yet for the love of power he had made affinity with the king of Thrace. But man has no power to escape what is willed by the Deity. ”

“ Chapter 4.XLIII.—How Pantagruel went into the island of Ruach.
Two days after we arrived at the island of Ruach; and I swear to you, by the celestial hen and chickens, that I found the way of living of the people so strange and wonderful that I can’t, for the heart’s blood of me, half tell it you. They live on nothing but wind, eat nothing but wind, and drink nothing but wind. They have no other houses but weathercocks. They sow no other seeds but the three sorts of windflowers, rue, and herbs that may make one break wind to the purpose ”

“ Mats are made along the coast of Cagayan Province, in the Ilocano barrios of the towns of Claveria and Sanchez Mira, from a pandan known as “pataga.” These are very coarse and thick and have an unusually shiny surface. According to Mr. Otto Harwood, the leaves vary in length from 10 cm. to 35.5 cm. and in width from 7.5 cm. to 15 cm. The straw is made by cutting the leaf into strips and drying them in the sun. Although the industry is yet small, it is developing.
A species of pandan is employed in the towns of Camalaniugan, Aparri, Gataran, and Lal-loc in Cagayan Province for making mats. ”

“ In the Philippines numerous varieties of pandan hats are produced, varying in grade from the fine and expensive sabutan to the coarse pandan.6
In some other places, as Burma, pandan leaves are woven or sewed into sails. In southern India they are utilized as umbrella covering. If no stronger material is obtainable, the leaves are placed on roofs as thatching, but they do not seem to lend themselves well to that purpose. In countries where they grow, they are often used instead of twine or made into ropes or hunting nets, or into drag ropes for fishing nets. ”

“ Pandu, after having subdued many countries by his wisdom and prowess, took up his abode with the Munis in a certain forest as a sportsman, where he brought upon himself a very severe misfortune for having killed a stag coupling with its mate, which served as a warning for the conduct of the princes of his house as long as they lived. Their mothers, in order that the ordinances of the law might be fulfilled, admitted as substitutes to their embraces the gods Dharma, Vayu, Sakra, and the divinities the twin Aswins. ”

“ Death from disease, O thou of Kuru’s race, doth not become a Kshatriya! Relying upon Suyodhana I have always offended the Pandavas! This affairs is destined to take its course. It is incapable of being prevented. Who was there that would venture to overcome Destiny by exertion? Various omens indicating the destruction of the Earth, O grandsire, were noticed by thee and declared in the assembly. It is well known to me that the son of Pandu, and Vasudeva, are incapable of being conquered by other men. Even with them we venture to fight! I will vanquish the son of Pandu in battle! ”

“ He knew that sooner or later Pandora would open the chest, and then man's life of untroubled happiness would be forever at an end. Never again could the gardens of the earth be places where man might hope to find peace. Evil things had taken up their dwelling there, and they would stay for always and always and always, as long as the world should last.
When Epimetheus and Pandora saw the hateful winged creatures settling down on the leaves and flowers so as to be near at hand to torment them, they wept bitter tears and wished that the gods had never created them. ”