THE S A MO AN COCOANUT 19 



ranking in importance in the order mentioned. The nuts are 

 eaten in the soft, but somewhat tough, gelatinous state, before 

 they reach the woody condition in which the) 7 are familiar to the 

 American people, when they are both palatable and exceedingly 

 nutritious. From what has been said, they are, of course, to be 

 had in this state of ripeness at all seasons. 



In this condition they enter into the preparation of many 

 cooked dishes, the choicest of which is " palusami," a most de- 

 licious preparation. The water of the half-ripened nut, at the 

 state of ripeness mentioned, which so completely fills the cavity 

 that it spurts out on the shell being penetrated at the " eye," 

 forms a pleasant and wholesome drink, ample in quantity and 

 curiously cool. The whole shells, from which all the meat is re- 

 moved by being left first to decay and then by being shaken a 

 long time half filled with coarse sand, forms the universal water 

 bottle ; cut in half, they are made into bowls and drinking cups. 

 The fiber, as has been said, furnishes all the sennet or braided 

 twine and rope for all uses. The leaves of the great branches, 

 which dry rapidly, are used for kindling, for torches in fishing, 

 and a small fire made in a bowl of burned clay set in the floor 

 of every house as a fireplace, when regularly fed with these long 

 and combustible leaves, furnishes the light to the household, of 

 a cheery and attractive kind. Again, the small ends of the long 

 branches are tied together in couples, and, the butts being flat 

 and heavy, they are hung across the combs of the roofs of houses 

 and serve admirably to hold the thatch in place against high 

 winds. These branches by a trick, as it were, are stripped down 

 either side and soon plaited into baskets ; treated and plaited 

 much in the same way, they are made into the curtains, or 

 more properly sidings, by which all houses are inclosed and 

 protected. 



Were the cocoanut tree by some destructive blight eliminated 

 from Samoa at a stroke, all its export would be at an immediate 

 end, and it would be difficult to see how its domestic life could 

 adjust itself to meet the calamity. 



It is generally estimated that an acre of land should yield, 

 when the trees have reached the period of full bearing, about 

 half a ton of commercial copra. As in most other agricultural 

 estimates, in which, it seems, result remains so stubbornly at va- 

 riance with calculation, this one cannot be reconciled with the 

 crop had from any particular plantation. Still, managers and 

 owners adhere to the estimate and furnish a ready reason when 



