109 
Indies and British India‘!China doubtl han any other 
country. In tropical America also, it is a staple food upon the 
table, and is introduced to a great enes of dishes. A sort of 
beer or fermented liquor is also made fro 
Throughout the Amazon Valley, the ae nut (Bertholetia), 
and to a less extent the monkey-cup nut (Lecythis), are similarl rly 
employed. These nuts, here known only as a table agen 
similarly used by the settlers. They are boiled, roasted, a 
as stuffing in fowls, in soups, hashed up with meat, and used in 
numerous other ways. 
W: maize is to the Mexican, rice to the Chinaman and 
dhouro to the Kaffir, such is the coconut to the South Sea 
Islander. Not only does he cook it in a great variety of ways, 
but it yields butter for his cassava bread, fat for his cooking 
purposes and even plain, fermented and Misniles beverages. 
The surplus, chiefly in the form of ‘“‘copra,”’ sold for export, 
ean a large part of his rev 
Fats employed as butter- aie are yielded by many nuts 
and ee of the old world tropics, a number of them belonging 
in the palm family. The cashew or caju nut, in the sumac family, 
is one of the most delicious es products of its class. The 
entire fruit, when ripe, might be compared to a good-sized very 
uicy pear, with a single lima- bean, in a fie oe hard pod, 
reese to the end. The ‘‘pear”’ portion consists of the flower- 
stem, enlarged and fleshy, while = ‘“‘bean’’ portion is the ripened 
ovary. The juice of the pulp, though aie ena has 
excellent is use making a wine 
that Ceti ae Madea: The eee: is shelled out, 
roasted and salted, and used like salted almonds, but is very much 
better than the latter. It is now to be purchased at many of our 
first-class grocery stores. 
The variety of beans, “pulse” of the Scriptures, cultivated in 
tropical countries, is quite bewildering, and the exact botanical 
origin of some of them is still in doubt. In Mexico the common 
red bean or “‘frijole’’ is most used, although a small nee bean 
is largely consumed. Both are true beans (Phaseoli), but the 
