292 



COCKSWAIN COD. 



rounded at both ends, and liaving a projecting den- 

 Uited line or keel, throughout its length, on one side. 

 This egg is lialf as large as the belly of the female, 

 and she carries it for seven or eight days, attached 

 to the posterior part of the abdomen, and, finally, at- 

 tuches it to some solid body, by means of a gummy 

 fluid. 



The species of cockroach at present determined, 

 are about twelve in number. Among these, the 

 blatta Americana and the blatta Orientalis are the 

 especial pests of America. The first mentioned 

 is the largest of the genus, and grows to be two or 

 three inches long, including the antennae. Through- 

 out the southern portion orthis continent, and in the 

 West India islands, this species (blatta Americana), 

 called Kukkerlac by the Dutch, is very numerous 

 and troublesome. The blatta Orientalis, or common 

 kitchen cockroach, was originally brought from Asia 

 to Europe, and thence to America. It is now tho- 

 roughly domiciliated in all parts of that country, to 

 the great vexation of its inhabitants. This species 

 is fond of warmth, and makes its abode near to the 

 kitchen fire-place, about ovens, stoves, &c. 



COCKSWAIN, or COXEN ; the officer who man- 

 ages and steers a boat, and has the command of the 

 boat's crew. It is evidently compounded of the 

 words cock and swain, the former of which was an- 

 ciently used for a yawl, or small boat, as. appears 

 from several authors, but has now become obsolete. 



COCLES. See Horatius. 



COCOA-NUT. The cocoa-nut is a woody fruit, 

 of an oval shape, from three or four to six or eight 

 inches in length, covered with a fibrous husk, and 

 lined internally with a white, firm, and fleshy ker- 

 nel. 



The tree (cocos nucifera) which produces the co- 

 coa-nut, is a kind of palm, from forty to sixty feet 

 high, having on its summit only leaves or branches, 

 appearing almost like immense feathers, each four- 

 teen or fifteen feet long, three feet broad, and wing- 

 ed. Of these, the upper ones are erect, the middle 

 ones horizontal, and the lower ones drooping. The 

 trunk is straight, naked, and marked with the scars 

 of the fallen leaves. The nuts hang from the sum- 

 mit of the tree in clusters of a dozen or more togeth- 

 er. The external rind of the nuts has a smooth sur- 

 face, and is of a somewhat triangular shape. This 

 encloses an extremely fibrous substance, of consider- 

 able thickness, which immediately surrounds the nut. 

 The latter has a thick and hard shell, with three 

 holes at the base, each closed with a black mem- 

 brance. The kernel lines the shell, is sometimes 

 nearly an inch hi thickness, and enclose a consider- 

 able quantity of sweet and watery liquid, of a whitish 

 colour, which has the name of milk. This tree is a 

 native of Africa, the East and West Indies, and 

 South America, and flourishes best in a sandy soil. 



Food, clothing, and the means of shelter and pro- 

 tection, are all afforded by the cocoa-nut-tree. The 

 kernels of the nuts, which somewhat resemble the 

 filbert in taste, but are of much firmer consistence, 

 :tre used as food in various modes of dressing, and 

 sometimes are cut into pieces and dried. When 

 pressed in a mill, they yield an oil, which in some 

 countries, is the only oil used at table ; and which, 

 when fresh, is equal in quality to that of almonds. 

 It, however, soon becomes rancid, and, in this 

 state, is principally used by painters. The milk 

 or fluid contained in the nut is an exceedingly 

 cool and agreeable beverage, which, when good, 

 somewhat resembles the kernel in flavour. Cocoa- 

 nut-trees first produce fruit when six or seven years 

 old; after which each tree yields from fifty to a 

 hundred nuts annually. The fibrous coats which 

 envelop the cocoa-nuts, after having been soaked 



for some time in water, become soft. They are tlu-:i 

 beaten, to free them from the other substances with 

 which they are intermixed, and which fall away like 

 saw-dust, the stringy part only being left. This is 

 spun into long yarns, woven into sail-cloth, and twist- 

 ed into cables, even for large vessels. The cordage 

 thus manufactured is, in several respects, preferable 

 to that brought from Kurope, but particularly foi 

 the advantages which are derived from its floating in 

 water. The woody shells of the nut are so hard ;is 

 to receive a high polish, and are formed into drink- 

 ing cups, ana other domestic utensils, which :ir> 

 sometimes expensively mounted in silver. On the 

 summit of the cocoa nut-tree, the tender leaves, at 

 their first springing up, are folded over each other, so 

 as somewliat to resemble a cabbage. These are oc- 

 casionally eaten in place of culinary greens, and are 

 a very delicious food ; but, as they can only 1 e ob- 

 tained by the destruction of the tree, which dies in 

 consequence of their being removed, they are in ge- 

 neral considered too expensive a treat. The larger 

 leaves are used for the thatching of buildings, and 

 are wrought into baskets, brooms, mats, sacks, ham- 

 mocks, and many other useful articles. The trunks 

 are made into boats, and furnish timber for the con- 

 struction of houses ; and when their central pith is 

 cleared away, they form excellent gutters for the 

 conveyance of water. If, whilst growing, the body 

 of the tree be bored, a white and sweetisii liquor ex- 

 udes from the wound, which is called toddy. This 

 is collected in vessels of earthen ware, and is a fa- 

 vourite beverage in many parts where the trees 

 grow. When fresh, it is very sweet ; in a few hours 

 it becomes somewhat acid, and, in this state, is pe- 

 culiarly agreeable ; but, in the space of twenty-four 

 hours, it is complete vinegar. By distillation, this 

 liquor yields an ardent spirit, which is sometimes 

 called rack, or arrack, and is more esteemed than 

 that obtained by distillation from rice or sugar, and 

 merely fermented, and flavoured with the cocoa-nut 

 juice. If boiled with quick-lime, it thickens into a 

 sirup, which is used by confectioners in the East 

 Indies, though it is much inferior to sugar produced 

 from the sugar-cane. 



COCYTUS (from xaxvw, to lament) ; a river of 

 ancient Epirus, which falls into the Acheron. The, 

 waters of both are tinged with black. The Greek 

 poets call this river the black Cocytus, echoing with 

 groans. It encircles the region of Tartarus, and is 

 composed of the tears of the damned. 



According to mythology, Cocytus is the son ot 

 Styx, and father of Phlegethon and Menthe. Pau- 

 sanic.s advances the following conjecture respecting 

 this i iver : " At Cichyrus is lake Acheron, with the 

 rivers Acheron and Cocytas, whose waters are very 

 ungrateful to the taste. Homer, I imagine, had seen 

 these rivers, and, in his bold description of hell, gave 

 to the streams in it the names of those in Thespro- 

 tia." 



COD (gadus, L. Block.); a genus of fishes be- 

 longing to the order jugulares~ (soft-tinned., sub-bra- 

 chial, of Cuvier), distinguished by the following cha- 

 racters : a smooth, oblong or fusiform body, cover- 

 ed with small, soft, deciduous scales, ventrals attached 

 beneath the throat, covered by thick skin, and drawn 

 out to a point ; head scaleless ; eyes lateral ; oper- 

 cle not dentated ; jaws and anterior part of the vo- 

 mer furnished with several ranges of moderate-sized, 

 unequal, pointed teeth, forming a card or rasp-like 

 surface ; the gills are large, seven-rayed, and open- 

 ing laterally ; a small beard at the tip of the lower 

 jaw ; almost all the species have two or three dorsal 

 fins, one or two anal, and one distinct caudal fin ; the 

 stomach is sacciform and powerful, the coeca very 

 numerous, and the intestines of considerable length ; 



