44 COCONUTS, KERNELS, AND CACAO. 



more oily from the heated kernels exuding oil and there 

 was very little chance of the heat being reduced in a 

 closed full hold. Such oily fibre would absorb oxygen 

 from the air very readily, and in these circumstances 

 the temperature would rise so high as to cause oily 

 vapours to inflame and so start the fires. The sacks 

 showed that the fires started at the outside fibre, and 

 not inside among the kernels, and after the fire the fibre 

 of the sacks held from 20 to 25 per cent, of oil. 



