^ii 



fiiE fmmAL AoMcvvrtim^f, [May i, imi, 



PEARLS IN COCONUTS. 



■nif i II I e re'rr'i ■^ gj aP' 



A correpp indent writes : — " T am somewhat 

 surprised that the fact has escaped yon that thi:^ 

 subject was fully discussed in the Ceylon Observer 

 some years ago, with extracts given, if I recollect 

 aright, from the Straits or Java papers. If such 

 a fact as the occasional occurrence of pearls in 

 coconuts existed in Eumphius' time it was sure 

 to be recorded by this most excellent and indus- 

 trious writer, and the statement made by your 

 correspondent that Rumphin- alludes to this fact 

 is likely to be correct. You will find Eumphius' 

 Ucvhoniiim Amhoinense in G folio volumes in 

 the foreign list of books in a shelf in the north 

 end of the Colombo Library, and a glance at the 

 index at the last vohime, and another at the 

 description of the Coconut given in double columns, 

 one in Dutch and [he other in Latin, will very 

 soon enable you to see if Rumpliius has alluded 

 to pearls in the coconut. If this be a fact the 

 hackneyed expression ' and this accounts for the 

 milk in the coconut ' may be changed into 

 * the pearls in the coconut.' And why not 

 Pearls in the Coco Nut ?" 



On which we have to remark that we hope 

 to refer to Rumpliius in due time and if, as we 

 suppose, from the statement made not by " our 

 correspondent,'' but in a quotation from a Java 

 newspaper, the accomplished Dutchman did refer 

 to concretions in coconuts, we feel quite certain 

 that instead of asking " Why not pearls in coco- 

 nuts ?" he noticed the phenomenon as exceedingly 

 rare and very curious. And for this reason, — 

 that, unlike the pearl-bearing shells, which are 

 formed of carbonate of lime and have the power 

 of secreting that mineral to any extent, the coco- 

 nut has the slighest possible amount of lime in 

 its composition. " The milk in the coco- 

 nut " is first highly saccharine and then as 

 it coagulates highly oleaginous, and true pearls 

 can be formed neither from sugar nor oil. We 

 are quite prepared to learn that the concretions 

 on analysis differ entirely in composition from the 

 nacre of which pearls are built up. We have no 

 recollection of this subject of pearls in coconuts 

 having been discussed in our paper but a very 

 vivid remembrance of our having quoted, only to 

 cover with deserved ridicule, a paper in the 

 transactions of the Straits Asiatic Society by a 

 Mr. Dennys in which people in this nitneteenth 

 century were asked to swallow the outrage- 

 ously unscientific statement that grains of rice 

 shut up in a box developed into life and then 

 became pearls which increased in size with effluxion 

 of time ! That we believe, was substantially the 

 story, which even the most pronounced evolutionist 

 could not swallow. The question we should now 

 like to iisk of men like Mr. W. H. Wright, Mr, 

 Vy', B, Lamont, Mr. Jardinc, ^Mr. Piachiaud and 

 other coconut planters, is, " Have you, in all 

 jour Ceylon e^periensCf seen or heard oi so-Cfl.Ued 

 peftl'ls in coconuts? " \Va hftvs notj 



HINTS TO FRUITGROWERS. 



Mi'( ;'amc3 Inglis, M. L. A., delivered a lecture 

 iri Uie hall of the School of Arts. Paramatta, on the 

 9th J'ed. to the meutbers of the Cumberland 

 Eruitgrowet's t'nion. The hsll wevs well filled by 

 the more active tnember-:) of the Unicn and others 

 interested in the gretlt industry of Central Cum- 

 herland. Mr. John Nobbs occupied the chair. 

 We extract from the report of the Cumberland Times 

 the following portions of the address ; — Mr, Inglis 

 said that when he was contesting the election for 

 Mew England— which he had the honour to repre- 

 fteot in t}ie rarliuuent of ^'£w ^outlt Wales^-tli^ 



slogan or war-cry of his party was " Aiild Scotland 

 for New England." He told them it was his in- 

 tention to avoid prolixity ; but, at the same time, 

 he intended to take his audience with him on an 

 imaginary journey of 25,000 miles ; and if in that 

 journey he did not weary them, he would return 

 to the starting point and deal with matters which 

 might be more immediately connected with the Cen- 

 tral Cumberland Fruitgrowers' Union. He expected 

 great things from the Union. Those interested in 

 the fruitgrowing industry had hitherto been a hetero- 

 geneous mass of incoherent atoms, each pulling in 

 oppo.-itp directions ; but now they had determined 

 on unity of action. The importance of the fruit- 

 growing indunry it would he difiicult to over- 

 estimate, and the large possibilities involved in it, 

 and the immense proportions to which it might 

 attain, were already attracting the attention of 

 outside nations. The importance of fruit from an 

 economic, sanitary, and dietetic point of view, was 

 pointed out, and extracts quoted from the Journal 

 of l{paU}i\ showing how valuable an aid to health 

 would be the substitution of fruit as an article of diet 

 for the messes of bacon and grease with which the 

 majority of the people were in the habit of regal- 

 ing themselves. There was no more wholesome 

 and nutritious article of diet than a peach, nor 

 anything more delicious ; nor could anything be 

 more conducive to health than substituting cooling 

 sub-acid fruits in the dietary scale tor the different 

 kinds of animal food which constitutes the staple 

 diet of the country. The medicinal value of various 

 fruits was also pointed out, and the watermelon 

 was instanced as an example of a natural febri- 

 fuge and diuretic than which few were more valu- 

 able. The oi'ily caution to be observed was to see 

 that the fruit was fresh and ripe. It was a fre- 

 quent reproach, levelled against the people of New 

 South Wales, that they were lagging behind in 

 the race for national pre-minence. For this some 

 assigned one reason, some another. One said 

 Jennings-Dibbsism was to blame, another said 

 free trade was the cause of it ; but there existed 

 an universal consensus of opinion that there pre- 

 vailed among the people of New South Wales a 

 certain sluggishness of character and temperament 

 which invited the rivalry and quiescently sub- 

 mitted to the attempts of more energetic if less 

 favoured nations to distance this colony in the 

 race for national pre-eminence. With respect to 

 the rival systems of free trade and protection, he 

 had the courage of his opinions, and, like most 

 Scotchmen, held a tolerably good opinion of him- 

 self. He did not intend to approach these subjects 

 in any gingerly fashion, with his fingers encased in 

 plush-tipped silken gloves. The man who considered 

 protection to be a panacea for all political and 

 social evils must be either a bigot or a fool. The 

 cry for protection was neither more nor iess than 

 the wail of sluggish eneptness— the puling cry o.f 

 those whose want of Anglo-Saxon stamina was 

 betrayed in every evidence that surrounded them of 

 their ^vant of capacity to take advantage of the 

 opportunities which bountiful nature had lavished 

 upoii them, and who contented themselves with 

 praying to Jupiter, instead of throwing off their 

 coats and setting their own shoulders to the wheeL 

 Having himself boundless faith in the potential!' 

 ties of the fruit-growing industry in ^ew South 

 Wales, he desired to impart a little of that faith 

 and fervour "ivith which he v,'as filled to the raem- 

 beis of the I'ruitgroAvers' Union ; and, in order to 

 do that, he would endeavour to show them what 

 was doue in countries where fruitgrowing took the 

 place to which its importance entitled it among 

 the industries of the people of those countries. He 

 bad beeu 1^ peat's iu ludia, bacl been tbrou^l] 



