154 THE COCONUT TREE 



with this, he has slashed off the tough outer rind 

 and the inch-thick packing of agglutinated fibres, 

 like metal wires, he has only to crack the hard shell 

 which contains the kernel. 



How little we can conceive the spaces in his life 

 that would be empty without that firm pulp, at 

 once nutritious, sweet and fragrant ! Curry cannot 

 be made without it, the cook cannot advance three 

 steps in its absence, pattimars laden with it are 

 sailing north, south, east and west, a thousand creaky 

 wooden mills are squeezing the limpid oil out of it, 

 a hundred thousand little earthen lamps filled with 

 that oil are making visible the smoky darkness of 

 hut and temple, brightening the wedding feast and 

 illuminating the sad page over which the candidate 

 for university honours nods his shaven head. That 

 oil fed lighthouses of the first order and illuminated 

 viceregal balls and durbars before paraffin and 

 kerosene inundated the earth. And it has other 

 uses. For arresting premature baldness and pre- 

 venting the hair turning grey its virtues are equalled 

 by no other oil known to us, and there is a fortune 

 awaiting the hairdresser who can find means effec- 

 tually to remove or suppress its peculiar and pene- 

 trating odour. Joao Gomez, my faithful "boy," did 

 not object to the odour, and when he had been 

 tempted to pass my comb through his raven locks 

 as he was dusting my dressing table, I always knew 

 it. 



When the white kernel has been turned to account, 



