THE COCOA-NUT. 



THE fruit of the cocoa-nut palm, 

 {Cocos ?incifera), which is the 

 most useful tree of all its tribe 

 to the natives of the regions 

 in which it grows, is one of the most 

 valuable and important of commercial 

 products. On the Malabar and Corvo- 

 mandel coasts of India the trees grow 

 in vast numbers; and in Ceylon, which is 

 peculiarly well situated for their culti- 

 vation, it is estimated that twenty mil- 

 lions of the trees flourish. The wealth 

 of a native in Ceylon is estimated by 

 his property in cocoa-nut trees, and Sir 

 Emerson Tennent notes a law case in a 

 district court in which the subject in 

 dispute was a claim of the twenty-fifth 

 twentieth part of an acre of palms. The 

 tree is very beautiful and lofty, grow- 

 ing to a height of from sixty to one 

 hundred feet, with a cylindrical stem 

 which attains a thickness of two feet. 

 It terminates in a crown of graceful 

 leaves. The leaf sometimes attains a 

 length of twenty feet, consists of a 

 strong mid-rib, whence numerous long, 

 acute leaflets spring, giving the whole, 

 as one traveler described it, the appear- 

 ance of a gigantic feather. The fruit 

 consists of a thick external husk orrind 

 of a fibrous structure, within which is 

 the ordinary cocoa-nut of commerce. 

 The nut has a very hard, woody shell, 

 inclosing the kernel, within which again 

 is a milky substance of a rather agree- 

 able taste. 



The cocoa-nut palm is so widely dis- 

 seminated throughout tropical coun- 

 tries that it is impossible to distinguish 

 its original habitat. It flourishes with 

 equal vigor on the coast of the East 

 Indies, throughout the tropical islands 

 of the Pacific, and in the West Indies 

 and tropical America. It is most at 

 home, however, in the numerous small 

 islands of the Pacific Ocean. Its wide 

 dissemination is accounted for by the 

 shape of the fruit, which, dropping into 

 the sea from trees growing along the 

 shores, would be carried by the tides 



and currents to be cast up and to vege- 

 tate on distant coasts. 



The uses to which the various parts 

 of the cocoa-nut tree are applied in the 

 regions of their growth are almost end- 

 less. The nuts supply a considerable 

 proportion of the food of the people, 

 and the liquor enclosed within them 

 forms a pleasant and refreshing drmk. 

 The liquid may also be boiled down to 

 sugar. When distilled it yields a spirit 

 which is known as "arrack." The trunk 

 yields a timber which is known in com- 

 merce as porcupine wood, and is used 

 for building, furniture, and firewood; 

 the leaves are plaited into fans and 

 baskets, and for thatching roofs of 

 houses; the shell of the nut is employed 

 as a water vessel, and the outer husk or 

 rind yields the fiber which is used for 

 the manufacture of ropes, brushes, cord- 

 age and the like. Cocoa-nut-oil is an 

 important article of commerce. It is 

 obtained by pressing or boiling the 

 kernels, which are first broken up into 

 small pieces and dried in the sun. It is 

 estimated that one thousand full-sized 

 nuts will produce upwards of twenty-five 

 gallons of oil. The oil is a white, solid 

 substance at ordinary temperature, with 

 a peculiar rather disagreeable odor. Un- 

 der pressure it spreads into a liquid and 

 a solid, the latter being extensively used 

 in the manufacture of candles. 



Within late years the oil has also 

 been manufactured into cocoa-nut but- 

 ter, retaining, however, in a greater or 

 less degree a distinct flavor of the nut. 



The monkeys and orang-outangs are 

 very expert in destroying the tough 

 outer covering of the cocoa-nut, though 

 quite two inches thick. They insert their 

 teeth into the tapering end of the nut, 

 where the shell is very uneven, hold it 

 firmly with the right foot, and with the 

 left tear the covering to pieces. Then 

 thrusting a finger into one of the na- 

 tural. apertures they pierce a hole, drink 

 the milk, break the shell on some hard 

 object and eat the kernel. 



