884 COIB 



and Co.'s worts they are advantageously employed, placed between iron trays and 

 on the surface of the cocoa-nut and other concrete oils and fats, and subjected to 

 great pressure ; the liquid oil flows out, leaving solid fats behind. From the abun- 

 dance, cheapness, and durability of this substance it is likely to come into more 

 general use, and it has even been seriously proposed as a material for constructing 

 ocean telegraphs, from its lightness and power of resisting sea-water. The qualities 

 of coir for many purposes have been established for ages in the East Indies. Dr. 

 Gilchrist thus describes the properties of coir ropes : ' They are particularly elastic 

 and buoyant, floating on the surface of the sea ; therefore when, owing to the strength 

 of the current, a boat misses a ship, it is usual to veer out a quantity of coir, having 

 previously fastened an oar, or small cask, &c., to its end. Thus the boat may be 

 easily enabled to haul up to the ship's stern. Were a coir hawser,' ie adds, ' kept 

 on board every ship in the British marine, how many lives would probably be 

 saved!' 



It is stated that fresh water rots coir in a very short time, corroding it in a sur- 

 prising degree, whereas salt water absolutely strengthens it, seeming to increase the 

 elasticity. Coir is therefore unfit for running rigging, especially for vessels subject 

 to low latitudes, it being easily snapped in frosty weather. 



Nothing can equal the ease with which a ship rides at anchor, when her cables are 

 of coir. As the surges approach the bows, the vessel gradually recedes in consequence 

 of the cables yielding to their force ; but as soon as they have passed, it contracts again, 

 drawing the vessel gradually back to her first position : the lightness of the material 

 adds to this effect, for the cable would float if the anchor did not keep it down. At 

 the present time the forces exerted upon cables and the angles assumed under different 

 circumstances, in paying out submarine telegraphic, cables, have been the subject of 

 practical attention and theoretical investigation. Some of the greatest authorities 

 have assumed that the forces exerted, between the bottom of the sea and the ship's stern, 

 had reference only to forms or waves of the cables, representing some curve between 

 the vertical and horizontal line, but always concave to the water surface. For a curve 

 to exist, in the opposite direction, was named only as a condition, without evidence of 

 any practical kind to show that it really existed, or called for any attention to investi- 

 gate it. So long since, however, as 1825, Dr. Gilchrist, among others, had described 

 this very opposite curve of the coir ; 'viz., of being, when in action as a cable, curved 

 with a concave surface toward the bottom of the sea ; a fact well known to the ex- 

 perienced sailors of England, as well as to the natives who employ these coir cables 

 so extensively on the East Indian coast. 



' A hempen cable always makes a curve downwards, between the vessel and the 

 anchor, but a coir cable makes the curve upwards. Therefore, if a right line were 

 drawn from the hawse-hole to the ring of the anchor, it would be something like the 

 axis of a parabolic spindle, of which the cables would form, or nearly so, the two elliptic 

 segments.' 



In the employment of materials for ocean telegraphs, especially for deep-sea 

 purposes, the use of iron and the proposal for using coir and other light substances, 

 have caused the telegraphic means to be spoken of as ' heavy ' or ' light ' cables. 

 Dr. Allan, of Edinburgh, proposed the abundant use of coir to make a light cable, say, 

 half the weight of the lightest hitherto made, the Atlantic cable. He states that 

 a deep sea cable may be compounded to weigh not more than 10 cwt. per mile : while 

 the cheapness, durability in salt water, lightness, and abundant supply, will give it ad- 

 vantages over gutta percha and other substances used to form the bulk of the lightest 

 cables hitherto employed. 



When cocoa-nuts are sawed into two equal parts across the grain of the coir coating, 

 they form excellent table brushes, causing wood planks to assume a very high polish 

 by friction. If the shell should be left, the edges should be perfectly smooth, and then 

 they will not scratch. It is a good mode to strip off the coir, and, after soaking it in 

 water, to beat it with a heavy wooden mall until the pieces become pliant, when they 

 should be firmly bound together with an iron ring ; the ends being levelled, the imple- 

 ment is fit for use ; a little bees' -wax, rubbed occasionally upon them, adds greatly to 

 the lustre of the furniture ; of course the polish is mainly due to strength and rapid 

 action producing the friction upon the wood, and other articles of furniture. 



In India, the coarse bark of the nuta is extensively used to cleanse houses, and in 

 washing the decks of vessels. Coarse stuff, matting, and bagging, are made of the 

 fibres, as well as ropes, sails, and cables. 



The general preparation is simple : The fibrous husks or coats which envelope the 

 cocoa-nuts, after being for some time soaked in water, become soft ; they are then 

 beaten, to separate other substances with which they are mixed, which fall away like 

 saw-dust, the strings or fibres being left; this is spun into long yarns, woven into sail- 

 eloth, and twisted into cables, even for large vessels. Cordage thus mado is con- 



