A VERY SUGGESTIVE CHAPTER. 143 



ground, in three months the water has disappeared and the 

 kernel has become of a consistency like leather, in which state 

 it will keep for ever, undergoing no change from the effects of 

 climate, damp, or from any other cause. 



The best copra makes the clearest and the sweetest oil, and 

 does not diminish in weight by evaporation. When thoroughly 

 dry, which is easily found out by shaking the nut, the husk 

 is stripped off, the shell is broken, and the kernel cut into 

 pieces, so as to prevent its taking up too much room. 



The other system is that of drying the nuts in the sun, 

 which, if pursued carefully, makes good copra, although never 

 equal to that which has been dried in the shade, for the reason 

 that in the former case the water which the nut contains is 

 evaporated suddenly, and so not always effectually ; in the 

 latter, gradually and perfectly. The usual practice is to skin 

 the nuts, break them in two halves, throw out the water, and 

 lay the broken pieces out on the coral beach to dry. This, in 

 fine weather, will occupy about three days ; but they must be 

 taken in or covered up at night, and in case of a shower of 

 rain, immediately protected from it, as copra which has been 

 rained upon will not keep, but always turns mouldy after a 

 time, and will infect and spoil all the rest with which it may 

 come in contact. Another singular fact in connection with 

 this process and for which it is not very easy to account is 

 as follows : It frequently happens that a long spell of cloudy 

 or damp weather takes place at a time when a quantity of 

 copra is being sun-dried. To counteract the mischief created 

 by the damp, it has been the practice of very many to make 

 fires under stages, and so complete as they supposed the 

 drying process by artificial heat. In such a case the copra 

 invariably breeds animalcules, which within a few months will 

 entirely consume it, and spreading to any other sound stock 



