102 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



The milk is of the greatest importance in dyeing silks, 

 cotton, or woollen stuffs, as it prevents black and other 

 caustic colours from burning them, and gives a brilliancy 

 to the colour. The emulsion of the kernel is used in 

 painting chintzes, and in scouring the cloth after the 

 colours have been applied. The Hindoos procure their 

 fine violet and rose colours by the assistance of this 

 fruit. 



The tough fibres, or substance which encloses the shell 

 being steeped in water and beaten like flax, are then manu- 

 factured into linen. The palms of this tree are made into 

 mats for sleeping on ; th'e leaves, which are of great 

 length, are made into baskets, hammocks, mats, brooms, 

 racks, &c. and are used for the thatchijig of houses : the 

 trunk of the tree is employed for gutters, and split into 

 laths for covering buildings, &c. The shell of the fruit, 

 when polished, is formed into basins, drinking-cups, and a 

 variety of useful articles. The Emperors of Mogul highly 

 esteemed the cocoa-nut for making goblets, which they 

 had set with precious stones and edged with gold, believ- 

 ing that poison would lose its baneful qualities in these 

 vases. 



The cocoa-nuts have three holes closely stopped ; one 

 of these being both wider, and more easily penetrated 

 than the rest : from this, when the nut is planted, rises 

 the germen, or young tree, first having ramified and filled 

 the whole cavity of the nut; it then shoots out at the 

 before-mentioned hole in the top, and soon appears 

 above ground in two narrow leaves : through these holes 

 likewise is the water copiously distilled into the nut from 

 the roots : thus wonderfully has nature made an egress for 

 the future tree. 



M. Le Goux de Flaix, an officer of engineers, and a 

 member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, in his account 

 of the cocoa-nut tree, says it is a well-known fact, thai 



