CqiR-ROPES. 131 



into a mortar, in which a heavy upright pestle is worked round 

 by a bullock yoked to a transverse beam. 



No wonder that, to meet the constantly increasing demand, 

 new plantations are continually forming on the coast, wherever 

 the Cocos iiucifera can be advantageously cultivated ; and that 

 the Dutch, ever anxious to add new sources of wealth to the 

 produce of Java, have within the last twenty years planted more 

 than twenty millions of cocoa-nut trees along the shores of their 

 splendid colony — the gem and envy of the Indian world. 



The fibrous rind or husk of the nut furnishes the coir of 

 commerce, a scarce less important article of trade than the oil 

 itself. It is prepared by being soaked for some months in 

 water, for the purpose of decomposing the interstitial pith, after 

 which it is beaten to pieces until the fibres have completely 

 separated, and ultimately dried in the sun. Ropes made of coir, 

 though not so neat in appearance as hempen cords, are superior 

 in lightness, and exceed them in durability, particularly if wetted 

 frequently by salt water. From their elasticity and strength 

 they are exceedingly valuable for cables. Thus Mr. Bennett 

 (" Whaling Voyage round the Globe ") mentions having once been 

 on board a ship during a severe gale, when hemp and chain 

 gave way, and the vessel at last most unexpectedly rode out 

 the gale with a coir-rope. In the year 1854, 43,957 cwt. of 

 this valuable fibre were exported from Ceylon to England, 

 and its consumption increases rapidly. Besides cordage of 

 every calibre, beds, cushions, carpets, brushes, and nets are 

 manufactured from the filaments of the cocoa-nut husk, 

 while the hard shell is fashioned into drinking-cups, spoons, 

 beads, bottles, and knife-handles. From the spathes of the un- 

 opened flowers a delicious *' toddy " is drawn, which, drunk at 

 sunrise before fermentation has taken place, acts as a cooling 

 gentle aperient, but in a few hours changes into an intoxicating 

 wine, and may either be distilled into arrack — the only per- 

 nicious purpose to which the gifts of the bounteous tree are 

 perverted — or soured into vinegar, or inspissated by boiling into 

 sugar. So vast is the consumption of " toddy " in Ceylon for 

 these various purposes, that while it has been computed that only 

 3,500,000 of cocoa-nut trees are destined for the production of 

 oil, and 11,500,000 for the food of the islanders, no less than 

 5,000,000 are said to be devoted to the drawing of toddy. 



K 2 



