230 FLORIDA FRUITS COCOA-NUTS. 



In every land where this palm flourishes its fruit forms 

 a principal article of food, and in the East, as we have 

 seen, the milk of the small red cocoa-nut is used as a cement 

 in building. 



In the preparation of the world-renowned East India 

 condiment "curry" grated cocoa-nuts perform a most 

 important part. 



The chief product in the kernel of the cocoa-nut is an 

 oil, which is extracted either by decoction or compression, 

 the latter being the method generally adopted when the 

 operation is performed upon a large scale. On an average, 

 twelve nuts yield one quart of pure oil. 



The process is commenced by cleaning the nut of the 

 outer husk ; the shell is then broken and the nut exposed 

 to the sun for several days, at the expiration of which 

 time its watery parts are all evaporated. In this state the 

 kernel is called copra. 



To extract the oil the copra is ground in a clumsy mill, 

 worked by bullocks, and the substance or refuse which re- 

 mains after this operation is fed to pigs and poultry. In 

 its native lands this oil is used for lamps ; the lower ranks 

 burn it in cocoa-nut shells, the wicks being a bunch of fiber 

 from the husk; the wealthier classes, however, pour the 

 oil into brass lamps, four or five feet high, having several 

 flat basins with ornamental beaks to hold the wicks. 



Cocoa-oil is also used to anoint the body, and is exten- 

 sively employed as a substitute for olive oil in pharmaceu- 

 tical preparations. Mixed with a species of resin, and the 

 compound melted, a substance is obtained which is used in 

 India instead of pitch for calking the seams of boats and 

 ships. 



Cocoa-nut oil has, of late years, found two new and 

 important uses; the one as a chief substitute for wax 

 in the manufacture of fine candles; the other as an 



