236 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
letting them drop to the ground, and then proceeds to tear off the husk and open 
them. On making inquiries among the natives, I was unable to find anyone who 
had seen an “‘ayuyu’’ climb a tree, but was told that the animal feeds upon nuts 
which have already fallen. It can not open a nut unassisted, but if an opening has 
been started it will succeed in getting at the kernel. Crab hunters carry coconuts 
to the sites frequented by the ‘“‘ayuyu,”’ and, after having made an incipient opening 
in each nut, leave it as bait. A crab soon discovers it, and is caught while engaged 
in opening it. 
The primitive way of making coconut oil is to rasp the fresh or dry kernel into a 
pulp, macerate it in a little water, place it in bags, and subject it to pressure. The. 
expressed juice is cooked and the clear oil which collects on the surface is skimmed 
off. The kernel may be boiled before it is rasped or grated. In Guam the rasp used 
consists of a flat iron blade set in a wooden footstool. The best oil is prepared from 
fresh kernels and is used in cooking. It is at first odorless, and with a slight flavor 
which is agreeable to the taste. It soon turns rancid, however, and in this condition 
is untit for food. Coconut oil is perfumed by macerating in it the blossoms of the 
ilangilang (Canangium odoratum) or other fragrant flowers or substances. In the 
South Seas the natives, though preferring fresh and perfumed oil for anointing the 
head and body, do not hesitate to make use of rancid oil for these purposes, In 
Samoa certain kinds of tapa, or bark cloth, are always treated with oil before they 
are suitable for wearing as clothing, so that to those who have cruised among the 
islands of the Pacific the smell of rancid coconut oil always brings to the mind 
visions of brown-skinned natives and thatch-roofed huts nestling beneath groves of 
coconut palms. 
The natives of Guam still use coconut oil for anointing the hair; but with the 
custom of wearing clothes that of anointing the body has died out, and the oil is 
used only for massaging the body in case of sickness. Though the use of petroleum 
is now general on the island, coconut oil is still sometimes used for illuminating. 
Until recently certain people paid their taxes partly in oil, which was used for light- 
ing the tribunal. Nearly every house on the island has its little shrine, where before 
the patron saint a lamp of coconut oil is always kept burning. This lamp consists 
of an ordinary drinking glass half filled with water, upon which the oil is poured. A 
wick projecting from a float is fed by the oil, and the water keeps the glass cool. 
In many of the Pacific islands the shell and the fiber of the husk play an impor- 
tant part in the daily economy of the inhabitants. In Samoa coconut shells are the 
only water vessels of the natives, and are used as vessels for oil. The open eye serves 
as an orifice, and a small grommet is passed through the other two eyes by which 
the nut is suspended, To remove the kernel, the natives, after having poured out 
the water through the open eye, immerse the nut in the sea, where the kernel soon 
putrefies and is eaten up by marine animals. It is then thoroughly cleansed and the 
outside is frequently polished. Both in Samoa and Hawaii the shells are made into 
cups, in which kava is served.¢ These are often highly polished and become lined 
with a beautiful pearly enamel from the deposit gradually made by the kava. In 
many islands the natives also make spoons, dishes, beads, and finger rings of coco- 
nut shell, and use broken shells for keeping up the fires in their houses by night. 
In Guam the shells are not much used, joints of bamboo taking their place as water 
vessels. No use is made of the fiber in Guam, while in Samoa it is used universally 
to lash together the framework of native houses and the parts of canoes, At every 
council in Samoa the chiefs may be seen sitting in a large circle, each one engaged in 
braiding sinnet of coconut fiber; and it is only necessary to refer to a dictionary of 
the Samoan language to realize how important a part is played by ‘‘afa,’’ as the sin- 
net is called, in the economy of the natives. Thus we have the word used to signify 
