50 



CASE Ol)serve fruits of Attalea e.vcelsa, Mart., the Urucuri Palm 

 6^, of the Lower Amazon. Used for burning to produce smoke 

 to dry and blacken india-rubber in process of coagulation. 



On the bottom shelf are seeds of the Chilian or Coquito 

 Nut Palm {Jiibcea spectabiUs^ H.B.lv.). They are nearly 

 round, and are about the size of marbles, for which indeed they 

 are used by the boys of the country ; the kernels are eaten, 

 and are also made into various kinds of confectionery. They 

 have been imported at various times into this country as an 

 edible nut. A syrup is extracted from the trunk known a^ 

 MiEL DE Palma, or Palm Honey. A good tree, it is said, will 

 yield as much as 90 gallons of sap, which is concentrated by 

 boiling into the thickness of treacle. A photograph and a 

 drawing of the tree are shown, A fine specimen grows in the 

 Temperate House. 



Case This Case, together with those numbered 64, 65, and 

 g3 QQy is devoted to the exhibition of the various economic 

 produpts of ; the Cocoa-nut (Cocos nucifera, .1--.). This 

 Palm is very widely spread by cultivation near the sea 

 coast in most tropical countries ; it grows to a height of from 

 60 to 100 feet, with a cylindrical trunk from 1 to 2 feet in 

 diameter, crowned wath a number of waving feathery leaves. 

 The Cocoa-nut is the most important of all the Palms on 

 account of the many and widespread uses to which it is put, 

 the two most valuable products in a commercial sense being 

 the dried kernel or copra from which oil is expressed, and the 

 strong fibrous husk which covers the nut and is much used for 

 matting and brush making as well as for ropes. 



In the upper part of Case 63 observe hammock made of 

 Cocoa-nut fibre, also spadices and spathes of the Palm from 

 Jamaica, a war dress from Tahiti, a mat from Calcutta, broom 

 from China, and various kinds of rope and cordage made from 

 Cocoa-nut fibre. 



CASE Specimens of Coir or Cocoa-nut fibre cables are here shown 

 64, from India and Burma, and mats from Madras made of the 

 plaited leaves. 



CASE Note portions of the fibrous sheathing base of the petioles 

 Qo used in Formosa fo^ the soles of shoes, and in Bahamas as a 

 strainer. ^A\wh\u kiavmI.! w. m 



No. 133. Bunch of Cocoa-nuts as grown ; sometimes as 

 many as from twelve to twenty large nuts are produced on one 

 bunc,hii-l«''« ii>uO'i«I io1 hi»««^>ji> '<> b^^-i^ifjH'^; 



