272 THE KUT CULTUKI5T. 



■beneath these the fruit appears in a pendulous cluster 

 eight to ten feet long, containing several bushels, weigh- 

 ing, altogether, from one to three hundred pounds. 

 The individual nuts are about the size of an ordinary 

 apple, with a very smooth shell, somewhat veined -or 

 streaked. The natives of the country not only use the 

 farinaceous kernels of these nuts as food, but obtain a 

 saccharine material from the pith, out of which they 

 make wine by fermentation. The petioles of the leaves 

 also furnish them with a strong fiber, used as thread- 

 cord, and for various other purposes. 



MoKETON' Bat chestnut. — See Australian chestnut. 



MoNKET-POT NUT. — See Sapucaia nut. 



Myeobalan nut. — This name is applied rather 

 indiscriminately to the fruits of several species of the 

 genus Terminalia, which are, in the main, large trees of 

 the Myrobalan family {Oombretacece) . They are native 

 of India, Malay, Fiji, and, in fact, almost all the islands 

 of the Pacific in warm latitudes. The fruits are similar 

 to large plums, but slightly angular, containing a hard, 

 nut-like seed. They are used principally for tanning 

 leather, and also for making ink similar to that made 

 from oak galls. The kernels of all the species are edi- 

 ble, and arc eaten by the natives. In the Fiji islands 

 the Terminalia Catappa is a favorite tree with the natives, 

 and they plant it near the houses. The kernels of this 

 species have the flavor of the sweet almond. 



NiCKAR nut. — The seeds of two species of Guilan- 

 dina, a genus of the bean family {Leguminosm). They 

 are climbing plants, with hard- wooded, prickly stems, 

 forming almost impenetrable thickets near the seacoast 

 in the East Indies and other tropical countries. They 

 have become widely distributed, as the pods readily float 

 when they drop into, the water. The pods are about 

 three inches long, very prickly, containing seeds or nuts 

 about the size of small marbles, and exceedingly hard ; 



