THE PALMS OF ASIA. 97 



ried on in the rudest way, and with the most 

 simple implements. Half-a-dozen stout lads 

 were seated, cross-legged, on the ground, each 

 with a heap of nuts by his side. The rapidity 

 with which they seized these, and with one 

 sharp blow of a heavy knife split them pre- 

 cisely in half, and flung them away into other 

 heaps, was remarkable. It seemed to be done 

 with scarcely an eifort ; yet, on handling the 

 broken nut, one cannot help being struck Avith 

 its thickness and strength. Smaller boys were 

 busily employed in removing these heaps of 

 split fruit to the large open spaces, where 

 others, assisted by a few women, were occupied 

 in placing them in rows close together with the 

 open part upAvards, so that the kernels may be 

 fully exposed to the direct rays of the sun. In 

 this way they remain for two days, when the 

 fruit, partly dried, shrinks from the shell, and is 

 removed. Two more days' exposure to the sun 

 in fine weather will generally complete the drying 

 process. The kernels are then called copperah, 

 and are brittle and unctuous in the hand. 



" To convert this material into oil, the natives 

 employ a very primitive mill, worked by 

 bullocks, and called a checkoo ; this process is 

 very slow, and the oil never clean. Europeans 

 have, however, obviated these objections, and 



D 



