72. Cocoa Cordage.
According to Barros, the salt water produces an effect upon it analogous to tanning...enverdece com a agua salgada,.. and it becomes so strong, that it seems made of leather, contracting or dilating at the will of the sea; so that a thick cable of this material, when a ship riding at anchor bears upon it, will be stretched out so thin that it would appear too weak to secure a common bark, and when the ship falls back it shrinks up, and remains as thick as ever. D.3, l.3. c.7.
Coco is the Portugueze word for a bugbear; it was applied to the fruit from the resemblance of an ugly face, which may be traced at the stalk-end.