230 USEFUL PLANT8 OF GUAM. 



letting tlu'iii drop to the ground, and 'then proceeds to tear off the husk and open 

 them. Oil making inquiries among the natives, I was unable to find anyone who 

 had seen an "ayuyu" cHmb a tree, but was told that the animal feeds ui)on nuts 

 which have already fallen. It can not open a nut unassisted, but if an opening has 

 been started it will succeed in getting at the kernel. Crab hunters carry coconuts 

 to the sites frequented by the "ayuyu," and, after having made an incijuent opening 

 in each nut, leave it as bait. A crab soon discovers it, and is caught while engaged 

 in opening it. 



The primitive way of making coconut oil is to rasp the fresh or dry kernel into a 

 pulp, macerate it in a little water, place it in ))ags, and subject it to pressure. The 

 expressed juice is cooked and the clear oil which collects on the surface is skimmed 

 off. The kernel may be boiled before it is rasped or grated. In Guam the rasp used 

 consists of a flat iron blade set in a wooden footstool. The best oil is prepared from 

 fresh kernels and is used in cooking. It is at first odorless, and with a slight flavor 

 which is agreeable to the taste. It soon turns rancid, however, and in this condition 

 is unfit for food. Coconut oil is perfumed by macerating in it the blossoms of the 

 ilangilang {Canangium odoratiun) or other fragrant flowers or substances. In the 

 South Seas the natives, though preferring fresh and perfumed oil for anointing the 

 head and body, do not hesitate to make use of rancid oil for these purposes. In 

 Samoa certain kinds of tapa, or bark cloth, are always treated with oil before they 

 are suitable for wearing as clothing, so that to those who have cruised among the 

 islands of the Pacific the smell of rancid coconut oil always brings to the mind 

 visions of brown-skinned natives and thatch-roofed huts nestling beneath groves of 

 coconut palms. 



The natives of Guam still use coconut oil for anointing the hair; but with the 

 custom of wearing clothes that of anointing the body has died out, and the oil is 

 used only for massaging the body in case of sickness. Though the use of petroleum 

 is now general on the island, coconut oil is still sometimes used for illuminating. 

 Until recently certain people paid their taxes partly in oil, which was used for light- 

 ing the tribunal. Nearly every house on the island has its little shrine, where before 

 the patron saint a lamp of coconut oil is always kept burning. This lamp consists 

 of an ordinary drinking glass half filled with water, upon which the oil is poured. A 

 wick projecting from a float is fed by the oil, and the water keeps the glass cool. 



In many of the Pacific islands the shell and the fiber of the husk play an impor- 

 tant part in the dailj' economy of the inhabitants. In Samoa coconut shells are the 

 only water vessels of the natives, and are used as vessels for oil. The open eye serves 

 as an orifice, and a small grommet is passed through the other two eyes bj^ which 

 the nut is suspended. To remove the kernel, the natives, after having poured out 

 the water through the open eye, immerse the nut in the sea, where the kernel soon 

 putrefies and is eaten up by marine animals. It is then thoroughly cleansed and the 

 outside is frequently polished. Both in Samoa and Hawaii the shells are made into 

 cups, in which kava is served." These are often highly polished and become lined 

 with a beautiful pearly enamel from the deposit gradually made by the kava. In 

 many islands the natives also make spoons, dishes, beads, and finger rings of coco- 

 nut shell, and use broken shells for keeping up the fires in their houses by night. 

 In Guam the shells are not much used, joints of bamboo taking their place as water 

 vessels. No use is made of the fiber in Guam, while in Samoa it is used universally 

 to lash together the framework of native houses and the parts of canoes. At every 

 council in Samoa the chiefs may be seen sitting in a large circle, each one engaged in 

 braiding sinnet of coconut fiber; and it is only necessary to refer to a dictionary of 

 the Samoan language to realize how important a part is played by "afa," as the sin- 

 net is called, in the economy of the natives. Thus we have the word used to signify 



« An infusion of the roots of the kava pepper {Piper methysticum) . 



