NUTS. 293 



which were once eagerly pressed by royal lips are now 

 commonly used in Ceylon by beggars to collect the food 

 which is given them in alms. 



The derivation of the name of the Cocoa .Nut is uncer- 

 tain, some imagining it to be from the Greek Jcokos, a 

 seed or berry, others from the Portuguese macoco, a 

 monkey, either from the three spots at the germ end 

 bearing no inapt resemblance to a monkey's face, or for 

 the rather far-fetched reason that when air is blown into 

 the pierced hole the sound produced is like the cry of an 

 ape. Eroin whatever cause, the nut at least is called by 

 the Portuguese coquo, and as the native appellations for 

 it in the regions where it grows are nothing like this 

 word, it is certainly probable that we gained our name 

 for it from those early navigators. 



The Cocoa Nut furnishes at once both food and drink, 

 the milk, as it is called, being a peculiarly refreshing and 

 innocuous beverage in a warm climate, while from the 

 palm-stem is drawn a liquid which distillation convert 

 into more potent "toddy." Of the kernel, Dr. Davey 

 says, "In composition, I believe it to be very like the 

 ripe Almond. The emulsion it makes is equal to that of 

 the Almond, and is an excellent substitute for milk for 

 tea." Eaten as it is gathered, without any kind of pre- 

 paration, it is, in its native regions, sufficiently substantial 

 to enable a working man to subsist upon it without any 

 other diet. It can, however, be prepared in various ways, 

 and forms, when rasped, one ingredient in the real Indian 

 curry, as it renders the dish not only more agreeable but 

 also more digestible than when ghee or oil is employed, 

 it being sufficiently oleaginous for these to be dispensed 

 with when it can be obtained; while a cake, delicious 

 beyond all other cakes, is sometimes made from it in 

 England by mixing the grated nut with white of egg and 

 sugar. The oil when extracted remains tasteless for 24 

 hours, and could any means be devised to preserve it so, 

 might compete with any oil for table use ; but it soon 

 acquires a rancid flavour, and becomes unfit for culinary 

 purposes, though largely employed in many other ways. 

 The fibrous covering of the outer shell, too, used by the 



