— 60 — 



is largely used in upholstery and in the manufature of 

 matting^ ropeSj etc. 



In a like manner^ in the expression of oil from 

 copra^ an incidental product might be obtained, as in 

 Europe, in the shape of sweet-tasted oil-cakes, which is 

 excellent food for cattle. There is no reason why, in 

 Mauritius, similarly to what is being done in Europe 

 with cotton and linseed oil-cakes, and mustard cakes in 

 India, and as the result of some well conducted experi- 

 ments oil-cakes made from the refuse of copra or "poonac" 

 might not be used in an important proportion in the 

 diet of our draught animals and cattle. Such an impor- 

 tant reform would save to the Colony a fair portion of 

 the heavy total of Rs. 1,000,000 which is being annually 

 sent over to India, in return for gram, oats etc. for 

 feeding horses, mules and other live stock. 



In the interesting collection contributed by Mr. 

 Lienard, Illipe seeds were found. The tree which yields 

 those seeds, is the celebrated " Mawah '' tree of India. 

 Samples of a white solid fat prepared from these 

 seeds were exhibited alongside the oil seeds. From infor- 

 mation for which I am indebted to an expert in that 

 line " that oil would probably form a valuable oil for 

 " soap manafacture, several of the trees belonging to the 

 " same Botanical family yielding, like the Sheo butter 

 " tree, a fat containing a small quantity of a substance 

 " resembling gutta percha, the presence of which pre- 

 " vents the rapid wasting away of soap made with it, 

 '' that is characteristic, of the soaps made with coconut 



