1 82 Goco-nuts The Consols of the East 



knife, and much more readily still by the 

 sharp mandibles of the boring beetles. We 

 may, of course, dismiss with a smile the fables 

 of the clever monkeys who are said to play 

 such havoc in the plantations by climbing the 

 trees and throwing down the nuts in vast 

 numbers, even on to the heads of the people 

 set to watch them. It is true that where 

 monkeys are numerous they do a certain 

 amount of damage, but they do not harm the 

 full-grown nuts so much as they do the flower 

 spathes and embryo nuts. There is also the 

 coco-nut cat, a cat-like animal which climbs 

 trees with facility. It is principally found in 

 Ceylon and the Malay Islands, and does a deal 

 of harm if left to increase to any extent. 



The best way to move the seed-nuts about 

 is on stretchers carried by two men on bamboos. 

 This allows of gentle handling from the sheds 

 to the nurseries. The mode practised in some 

 parts of using donkeys and panniers is not 

 to be recommended, owing to the excessive 

 shaking and the frequent spillings of the nuts 

 brought on by the exuberant spirits and 

 general cussedness of these otherwise most 

 useful animals on a plantation. For other 

 work on a coco-nut plantation these hardy little 

 beasts are invaluable. As nut-carriers to the 

 copra - drying centres they have no equal, 

 except in the case of big concerns where field 

 railways and overhead cablew r ays are abso- 

 lutely necessary. 



