3'28 COCOA-NUT TREE. 



called ill Ceylon Hakuroos, and are one of the 

 subdivisions of the second in rank of the Sin- 

 galese castes. 



The rind or husk of the cocoa-nut* is very 

 fibrous, and, when ripe, is the Koya or Koir of 

 commerce. It is prepared by being soaked for 

 some months in water, washed, beaten to pieces, 

 and then laid in the sun to dry. This being 

 effected, it is again well beaten until the fibres 

 are so separated as to allow of their being worked 

 up like hemp, similar to which it is made up 

 in ropes of any size from the smallest cord to the 

 largest cable, but will not receive tar ; it is rough 

 to handle, and has not so neat an appearance 

 about the rigging of shipping as that made from 

 hemp, but surpasses the latter in lightness and 

 elasticity, and even, it is said, durability ; more 

 so if wetted frequently by salt-water. From its 

 elasticity it is valuable for cables, enabling a 

 ship to ride easier than with a hemp or even 

 chain cable. I was once on board a ship, in a 

 severe gale, when chain and hemp cables gave 

 way ; and we, at last, most unexpectedly rode 

 the gale out with a small coir-cable. Among 

 the Polynesian islands, where this valuable tree 

 rears its elegant crest, the coir is used in the 



* From one inch to two inclies in thickness. 



