_ 57 _ appear) they take a branch from the male tree and touch all the other palms with it. In this way, they germinate and produce fruit. Those palms that are not touched by this branch lose their fruit and that year’s fruit does not appear(A). The things that have happened to Master Gaspar in this country are infinite and it is impossible to write about them in detail. (A) Rev. Father Wicki quotes, a propose of this palms tree Phoenix lifera, the following extract from E. Blatter, S.J., in the work The Palms of British India and Ceylon (Humphrey Milford, 1926), 24-37: “The male inflorescence with its enclosing spathe is cut from the tree usually immediately before, but sometimes after the splitting of the spathe. One inflorescence consists of over 100 slender branches, of which one or two bear sufficient pollen to fertilize a whole female inflorescence.” Documenta Indica I pp 502-7. Other locations: Biblioteca da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa: Azul 11 ff 89v-91r. Arquivo Romano S.I. [Rome]: Goa 10 I ff 54v-5r, 118r-v, 123r-4r, 132r-v. Biblioteca de Ajuda (Lisbon): 49-IV-49 ff 72v-3v. Arquivo do Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros: Conimb 1 ff 99r-100r. Biblioteca Vaticana: Ottob lat 797 ff 49v-51r.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy