400 APPENDIX D. 



agreeable odour. As soon as tlie kernels have cooled, they 

 are ground in a handmill into a thick meal, not unlike that of 

 pounded almonds, only that it is of a brown colour, and the 

 meal is put into a vessel in which the oil is separated, which is 

 done by sprinkling the mass now and then with hot water, and 

 keeping it constantly stirred and kneaded with the hand. This 

 process is carried on until the mass becomes so hard that it can 

 no longer be kneaded : the harder and firmer are the residuary 

 coarse parts, the more completely is the oil extracted. At the 

 last, cold water is sprinkled upon it, in order, as they say, to 

 expel the last particles of the oil. During the operation the oil 

 runs out at the sides, and is from time to time poured into a 

 clean vessel. The main point to be attended to in order to ex- 

 tract the greatest quantity and the best quality of oil, is that it 

 should be well kneaded, and that the proper proportion of hot 

 water for the extraction of the oil should be used ; it is always 

 safer to be sparing of it than to be too profuse. The residuary 

 mass, often as hard as a stone, is of a black-brown colour, and 

 has a disagreeable bitter flavour. The oil itself, when it has 

 settled, is clear, of a light brown colour, and has a rancid smell 

 and flavour. When it is used without other preparations in 

 cooking, it has a stimulating and pungent taste which is long 

 felt on the gums. The vapour which arises when anything is 

 fried in it, affects the lungs and occasions coughing. The com- 

 mon people use it generally without preparation ; but in better 

 houses it is the custom, in order to take off that pimgency, to 

 mix it previously with water, or to put a bit of bread into it 

 and let it simmer before the fire. 



' " The wood, which is hard, tough, fine-grained, and of a 

 yellow colour, is used in house carpentry, and for other pur- 

 poses." ' 



' We have been at some pains to distribute the seeds of this 

 plant, with which we have been liberally supplied, to various 

 parts of the East Indies, and to such of our Colonies as ap- 

 peared suited to the growth of this tree, in respect of climate, 

 &c. It is impossible for seeds to be in better condition ; and 

 though the surrounding hard portion of the nut is as thick and 

 solid as that of hickory, those which we ourselves sowed 

 sprouted in less than a month from the time they were put in 



