THE COCOA NUT TREE. 



249 



thougli they have a name for sugar extracted in 

 other countries from that plant, which is since or 

 cJiinee. The common soldiers ordinarily use jagery ; 

 and many Europeans of the upper ranks prefer it 

 for sweetening coffee. Sugar-candy, which is 

 chiefly imported from China, is the saccharine sub- 

 stance commonly used by the richer classes of Eu- 

 ropeans in India. In some parts of the interior of 

 Ceylon, particularly in tlie vicinity of Adam's 

 Peak, great numbers of the inhabitants support 

 theniselves by extracting a sweet juice from the 

 nepery tree (Caryota urens,) and manufacturing 

 it into jagery. This tree grows spontaneously 

 in the woods. The people thus employed, sub- 

 sist chiefly upon coarse sugar. They occasion- 

 ally procure a little rice and salt by barter, but 

 they do not raise grain by cultivating the soil. 



There is some foundation for supposing, that 

 the sugar of the ancients, whicli seems to have 

 b'een imported from India, was the produce of 

 the palm family of plants, and not that of the 

 sugar-cane. Salmasius, the commentator of 

 Pliny, is decidedly of opinion, that the sugar of 

 the moderns is tlie produce of a different plant 

 from that which produced the sugar of the 

 Greeks and Romans. All authors on this sub- 

 ject describe the sugar of the ancients as being of 

 a very coarse quality, and mixed witli a large 

 portion of molasses, exactly resembling jagery, 

 the produce of some of the palms. Virey, in his 

 account of sugar, says expressly, that, " le pre- 

 mier Sucre apporte des Indes n'etoit qu'une 

 moscouade (sucre brut.)" And, in an essay upon 

 the History of the Commerce of Venice, it is 

 stated, that the sugar which was manufactured 

 in Sicily, as early as 1178, brouglit a higher 

 price than that which they imported from Egypt 

 or from India, by the way of the Red sea. Tlie 

 extraction of sugar from 'the sugar-cane is mucli 

 more operose than from the juice affbrded by 

 palms ; and this may be one reason why palm- 

 sugar should be more early known than cane- 

 sugar, even in countries where the sugar cane is 

 indigenous. 



Among the articles of commerce which tlie Ve- 

 netians imported from Asia, about the year 900, 

 sugar is mentioned ; but whether it was the pro- 

 duce of palm trees, or of the sugar-cane, cannot 

 be satisfactorily ascertained. It is the opinion 

 of Mr Marsden, that the sugar of the ancients 

 was procured from palms. In his liistory of 

 Sumatra he says, " If the ancients were ac- 

 quainted witli sugar, it was produced from some 

 species of tlie palms, as the sugar-cane was not 

 brought into the Mediterranean from the coast, 

 till a short time before the discovery of the pas- 

 sage to India by the Cape. Tlie word saccharum 

 is conjectured to be derived from jaggrec, whicli 

 the French pronounce schagaree." His opinion 

 is coiToborated by Mr Crawfurd, who informs 

 us, that, " altliough the cane be a native of the 



Indian islands, the art of manufacturing sugar 

 from it is certainly a foreign art. Tliere is no 

 name for sugar in any dialect of the Indian 

 islands, but a foreign one gula, (perhaps a cor- 

 ruption of goor sweet;) and tliis foreign one 

 is pure Sanscrit. When Europeans first became 

 acquainted with the natives of tliese islands, they 

 found them ignorant of the manufacture of sugar 

 from the cane. The Hindoo word gicla (^some- 

 times written gour) is indeed equally applicable 

 to palm sugar as to that of the cane. It may be 

 supposed therefore that the Hindoos instructed 

 the Indian islanders only in the simple process 

 of manufacturing the former, and that tlie ma- 

 nufacture of the latter was introduced by the 

 Chinese, under the auspices chiefly of Europeans 

 and in times comparatively very recent." Hum- 

 boldt however infers, from some Chinese paint- 

 ings wliich he saw at Lima, representing the 

 different processes for extracting sugar, tliat this 

 art is extremely ancient in tliat country, 



Lime, to which a small quantity of jagery is 

 added, takes on a very fine polish. Walls are 

 prepared for receiving tliis covering, by wetting 

 them witli a strong infusion of the husk of un- 

 ripe cocoas; and the same kind of fluid is used 

 for mixing and tempering the materials. In 

 Madras, and some other parts of India, tlie flat 

 tops of tlie houses are covered with tliis cement. 

 It is much employed to cover columns, as also 

 to fomi the floors of rooms. Floors of this kind 

 are sometimes stained and made to resemble the 

 finest marble. It is said that jagery-cement has 

 succeeded very well in Holland. In 1813, Cey- 

 lon exported jagery to the value of 09,2^5 rix 

 dollars. Tlie Ceylon rix-dollar at par was then 

 equal to Is. 9d. Sterling. 



Wlien the flower lias not been injured, the 

 tree bears nuts which are converted to many 

 useful purposes. In some parts of India the 

 cocoa nut is a symbol of matrimonial alliance. 

 Young cocoa nuts are much used by the natives 

 as an article of diet. During the unripe state of 

 the fruit, the shell is lined with a puipy sub- 

 stance, while the centre is filled witli an aqueous 

 fluid. This fluid is at first slightly astringent 

 and sub-acid; as the fruit ripens, it becomes 

 sweetish, and not unlike the colour and consis- 

 tence of the whey of milk. Wlien drunk before 

 the sun has far advanced, it is much cooler than 

 the atmosphere, and is then a pleasant beverage. 

 Natives, particularly when travelling, generally 

 furnish tliemselves with a few unripe nuts Cla- 

 nias, Portuguese, ) the water of wliich they drink, 

 and eat the pulpy portion or kernel. Upon a 

 few repasts of this kind, a man will labour from 

 morning till night, without any otlier article of 

 diet. Tlie native inliabitants of the coasts of 

 some of the islands in tlie equinoctial zone, are 

 more palmivorous than granivorous. Wliere a 

 people can be satisfied with food so easily pro- 

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