228 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the subsidence of its impurities, it is drawn off quite 

 clear. 



The residue in the bags is found to contain many 

 impurities, such as fibre, mucilage, and other extra- 

 neous matter. It is therefore necessary to disengage 

 it from these, for which purpose the whole is put into 

 a tinned copper boiler, which is covered and immersed 

 in a water-bath, to prevent the liability of an excess 

 of heat. Two per cent, in weight of sulphuric acid of 

 1*8 spec. gra. diluted with six parts of water, is then 

 added. The action of the acid, aided by heat, coagu- 

 lates and precipitates the impurities, which may then 

 be removed either by straining or filtering, while warm 

 and in the fluid state; or by their being allowed to 

 subside and become cold, when they are separated. 



The substance thus obtained is of so firm a con- 

 sistence as to form a very good material for candles, 

 into which useful articles it is manufactured and sold 

 at rather a higher price than those made of tallow. 



The import duty on cocoa-nut oil is the same as 

 that on palm oil. It can be bought at Ceylon at the 

 rate of one shilling per gallon ; and at this price a 

 large quantity is annually sent to the different ports in 

 India; but before the oil that we import reaches Eng- 

 land, what with freight, waste, duties, &c. the price 

 has generally been increased to four shillings the gal- 

 lon. Should this manufactory meet encouragement 

 in Ceylon, the islanders could augment its supplies 

 to a great extent, by keeping the nuts for the oil- 

 presses instead of exporting them, as they have been 

 in the habit of doing, at the low rate of 3s. 6d. the 

 hundred, or somewhat less than a halfpenny a piece. 

 In 1809 the number thus exported, chiefly to India, 

 amounted to 2,977,275. The cocoa-nuts sold in our 

 shops are frequently brought from the West Indies 

 by the captains of ships, who use them instead of 



