THE PALMS OF ASIA. 79 



drinks of the fresh juice of the young nut ; 

 when he is hungry, he eats its soft kerneL If 

 he has a mind to be merry, he sips a glass of 

 arrack, distilled from the fermented juice of the 

 palm, and dances to the music of rude cocoa 

 niit castanets ; if he be weary, he quaffs ' toddy,' 

 or the unfermented juice, and he flavours his 

 curry with vinegar made from this toddy. 

 Should he be sick, his body will be rubbed 

 with cocoa nut oil ; he sweetens his coffee with 

 jagghery, or cocoa nut sugar, and softens it 

 Avith cocoa nut milk ; it is sipped by the light of 

 a lamp constructed from a cocoa nut shell, and 

 fed by cocoa nut oil. Ilis doors, his windows, 

 his shelves, his chairs, the water-gutter under 

 the eaves, are all made from the wood of the 

 tree. His spoons, his forks, his basins, his 

 mugs, his salt cellars, his jars, his child's money- 

 box, are all constructed from the shell of the 

 nut. Over his couch when born, and over his 

 grave when dead, a bunch of cocoa nut blos- 

 soms is hung to charm away evil spirits." 

 Such is the account given us of the uses to 

 which this palm and its products arc applied 

 by the natives of Ceylon, but a much longer 

 catalogue must be made ere we shall number 

 up the list of its useful applications, a few fur- 

 ther items of which we may specify. The 



