THE MILK IN THE COCO-NUT 179 



yellow background of a chased Benares brass-work tray. 

 The lump of ice bobs enticingly up and down in the centre 

 of the tumbler, or clinks musically against the edge of the 

 glass as he carries it along. You take the cool cup thank- 

 fully and swallow it down at one long draught ; fresh as a 

 May morning, pure as an English hillside spring, delicate 

 as well, as coco-nut water. None but itself can be its 

 parallel. It is certainly the most delicious, dainty, trans- 

 parent, crystal drink ever invented. How did it get there, 

 and what is it for ? 



In the early green stage at which coco-nuts are gene- 

 rally picked for household use in the tropics the shell hasn't 

 yet solidified into a hard stony coat, but still remains quite 

 soft enough to be readily cut through with a sharp table 

 knife just like young walnuts picked for pickling. If you 

 cut one across while it's in this unsophisticated state, it is 

 easy enough to see the arrangement of the interior, and 

 the part borne by the milk in the development and growth 

 of the mature nut. The ordinary tropical way of opening 

 coco-nuts for table, indeed, is by cutting off the top of the 

 shell and rind in successive slices, at the end where the 

 three pores are situated, until you reach the level of the 

 water, which fills up the whole interior. The nutty part 

 around the inside of the shell is then extremely soft and 

 jelly-like, so that it can be readily eaten with a spoon ; but 

 as a matter of fact very few people ever do eat the flesh at 

 all. After their first few months in the tropics, they lose 

 the taste for this comparatively indigestible part, and con- 

 fine themselves entirely (like patients at a German spa) to 

 drinking the water. A young coco-nut is thus seen to 

 consist, first of a green outer skin, then of a fibrous coat, 

 which afterw ards becomes the hair, and next of a harder 

 shell which finally gets quite woody ; while inside all comes 

 the actual seed or unripe nut itself. The office of the coco- 



N 2 



