BOTANY. 323 



possession, in a great measure, of the road-side banks and hedges, for 

 two or three miles in the environs of the city. It seems to delight 

 in the vicinity of the saline atmosphere, having extended but sparingly 

 upwards in the country. This may be owing, however, in part, to its 

 meeting the more robust forest growth, which it is unable to exclude. 



It is chiefly from the two proximate principles which are the con- 

 stituents of animal tallow, the stearine and elaine contained in the 

 fruit, that the plant is so much valued. The nuts or capsules, when 

 ripe, are gently pounded in a mortar, to loosen the seeds from, the 

 shells, from which they are separated by sifting. To facilitate the 

 separation of the white sebaceous matter enveloping the seeds, they 

 are steamed in tubs, with convex open wicker bottoms, placed over 

 cauldrons of boiling water. When thoroughly heated, they are 

 reduced to a mash in a mortar, and thence transferred to bamboo 

 sieves, kept at a uniform temperature over hot ashes. This operation 

 of steaming and sifting is repeated, as the first does not deprive the 

 seeds of all their tallow. The article thus obtained becomes a solid 

 mass, on falling through the sieve, and, to purify it, it is melted and 

 formed into cakes for the press. These receive their form from bam- 

 boo hoops, a foot in diameter and three inches deep, which are laid on 

 the ground over a little straw. On being filled with the hot liquid, 

 the ends of the straw beneath are drawn up and spread over the top, 

 and when of sufficient consistence are placed, with their rings, in the 

 press. This apparatus is of the rudest description, constructed of two 

 large beams, placed horizontally, so as to form a trough capable of 

 containing about fifty of the rings, with their sebaceous cakes ; at one 

 end it is closed, and at the other adapted for receiving wedges, which 

 are successively driven into ft by ponderous sledge-hammers, wielded 

 by athletic men. The tallow oozes, in a melted state, into the recep- 

 tacle below, where it cools. It is again melted, and poured into tubs 

 smeared with mud, to prevent its adhering. It is now marketable, in 

 masses of about eighty pounds each, hard, brittle, white, opaque, 

 tasteless, and without the odor of animal tallow. Under high pressure 

 it scarcely stains bibulous paper, and melts at 104 Fahr. 



The process of pressing the oil, (elaine,~) which is carried on at the 

 same time, is as follows. This is contained in the kernel of the nut, 

 the sebaceous matter which lies between the shell and the husk having 

 been removed in the manner described. The kernel, and the husk 

 covering it, are ground between two stones, which are heated, to pre- 

 vent cloging from the sebaceous matter still adhering. The mass is 

 then placed in a winnowing machine, when the chaff being separated, 

 the white oleaginous kernels, after being steamed, are placed in a mill 

 to be mashed. *"" The machine is formed" of a circular stone groove, in 

 which a solid stone wheel revolves perpendicularly, by the aid of an 

 ox. Under this ponderous weight the seeds are reduced to a mealy 

 state, steamed in the tubs, formed into cakes, and pressed by wedges 

 in the manner already described ; the process of washing, steaming 

 and pressing being repeated with the kernels likewise. The kernels 

 yield about 30 per cent, of oil. The cakes which remain after the oil 

 23* 



