140 THE COCONUT OIL AND 



tions, a discovery which largely assisted in revolu- 

 tionising the coconut industry by enabling the oil 

 to be utilised in the manufacture of food products. 

 By their process coconut oil is freed from its 

 flavour and acidity, and thus rendered less liable 

 to rancidity. Numerous other inventions have 

 since been made with the same object, the author 

 of one of the best of them asserting " that by its 

 use every trace of colour, taste or smell is removed 

 from the oil," and its general adoption in Europe 

 would appear to support this claim. 



In former times coconut oil was extracted from 

 the copra by natives, who employed extremely 

 primitive methods. In Ceylon, for instance, the 

 principal applicance was the chekku, a native oil 

 mill made of iron, wood or stone, of which there are 

 still about 2,000 in use among the Cingalese. On 

 the other hand there are both in Ceylon and in 

 Malabar a number of extensive steam oil mills for 

 the scientific expression of oil on the spot. The 

 chekku is described in Ferguson's Manual as a 

 large mortar, firmly fixed in the ground, and a 

 corresponding pestle, wrought by a lever, with 

 which a pair of bullocks travel round in a circle. 

 In some countries camels are employed for this 

 purpose. The action of the pestle, when the 

 machine is at work, is a double one of grinding and 

 pressing ; the copra is thrust down in front of the 

 pestle at the opening between the pestle and the 



