USES OF THE COCOA-NUT TREE. 107 
state, or dried and exported by the name Copra. In both 
states it is well known to abound in oil, which is used in the 
East for anointing the body, for the lamp, and for culinary 
purposes, and is now exported in such enormous quantities to 
Europe. The nut, besides, yields large quantities of a fibre 
which is to be more especially the object of our attention. 
That the Cocoa-nut is one of the most valuable trees of 
tropical regions has long been known. It is therefore well 
worthy of cultivation in such situations as are suitable to it; 
as it abounds in products useful as articles of diet, as well as 
for commerce and manufactures. The celebrated Rumphius 
has given a very elaborate account of the Cocoa-nut Palm, and 
of its uses, under the name of Palma indica major, or Calappa, 
in his ‘ Herb. Amboin.,’ i, pp. 1—25. Mr. G. Bennett, in his 
‘ Wanderings,’ has also given a very interesting account of it 
(vol. ii, p. 295); as also Mr. Robinson, of the Madras Civil 
Service, in his ‘Report on the Laccadive Islands,’ published 
in the ‘Madras Literary and Scientific Journal.’ From these 
sources we condense the following notice of the useful products 
of this “ Prince of Palms.” 
The Cocoa-nut, valued as it is in its ripe state, is probably, 
in the countries where it is indigenous, most used as an article 
of diet in its young or green state. It then affords both solid 
food and a pleasant drink, because it contains an abundance of 
the fluid, which Mr. G. Bennett says is beautifully clear, and 
has a sweetness, with a slight degree of astringency, which 
renders it a very agreeable beverage.” This he always found 
cooling and refreshing in all his excursions in intertropical 
countries. The pulp of the young nut is delicate, easily re- 
moved with a spoon, and may very well be named a vegetable 
blancmange. The ripe fruit is also eaten, but it is more fre- 
quently employed in cookery; the grated kernel being placed 
in a cloth, water is poured on it, a white juice is extracted by 
pressure, which, Mr. Bennett says, “may with propriety be 
1 See also the ‘Wernerian Trans.,’ vol. v, for a full account of the uses of this 
tree; as also Mr. Marshall, in his ‘ Natural and Economical History of the Cocoa- 
nut,’ 1832. 
2 Mr. Bennett mentions that in Ceylon, house-plasterers use the water of the 
green Cocoa-nut as an ingredient in their white-washes, made of pure lime. It isa 
general practice of the natives of India to add some vegetable matter to their 
cements. 
