THE TECHNOLOGIST. [March 1, 1864. 



344 SOME ECONOMIC USES OF NUTS AND SEEDS. 



it will hold ; thus there are cocoa-nut cups of 1,000 cowries capacity, 

 500 cowries, and so on. 



The fleshy pulp of the fruit of some of the calahash trees is eaten, 

 but in most species it is deleterious. The young fruit are pickled. The 

 most valuable part of the calabashes is their rind, which is tough, and 

 applied by the negroes to a variety of purposes. 



Calabashes — the hard coveriug of the fruit of Crescentia cujete— 

 are used for all kinds of domestic utensils in Africa, the West Indies, 

 and South America. Cups and saucers, baskets and bowls, pepper 

 and salt dishes, &c, of various sizes, made of them, plain or carved 

 and ornamented, take the place of crockery, and are not so easily 

 broken. Many will stand the fire for cooking as well as an iron pot. 



I have already described the various uses of the betel-nut (vol. ii., 

 p. 332). The nuts of various other palms have some few economic 

 applications. The gru-gru nuts of the West Indies, the seeds of Acro- 

 comia sclerocarpa, are turned and carved into very pretty beads, rings, 

 and other small articles, the hard black texture of the nut taking a fine 

 polish. The albuminous fruit of Raphia vinifera are carved into little 

 figures by the African negroes. 



The seeds of Oncoba spinosa are used by the Kaffirs for snuff boxes. 

 The fruit of Barringtonia speciosa is used instead of cork for seine floats 

 at the Feejee Islands and Sooloo. 



The seeds of the greenheart tree of British Guiana (Nectandra rodieii) 

 are used as a febrifuge and tonic. Occasionally, in time of scarcity, 

 grated and mixed with the decayed Wallaba wood (Eperua falcata 

 Aubl.) They are used by the Indians as food. 



The musk seed of commerce (Abelmoscnus moscJiatus) is the 

 " Kalakustooree " of the Hindoos, the " Hubbul mooshk " of the 

 Arabs, a celebrated ingredient, used in their coffee with such wonderful 

 improvement of its flavour, as to have led to its introduction for the 

 same purpose amongst Europeans, even in India. 



The Tonka bean, also termed Gayac bean, the seed of Dipteryx 

 odorata, is used for perfuming clothes and dnuff. Its peculiar principle 

 is called coumarin. 



The shell of the fruit of the Adansonia digitata is used by the 

 Soahili of Africa as a substitute for water buckets. 



The trade in the principal edible nuts of commerce has been 

 described in vol. iii., p. 456, but a few incidental notices of some other 

 nuts which are eaten may be here given. 



The kernel of the nuts of Terminalia catappa, Linn., has the taste 

 of an almond, and may be used for the same purposes, but does not con- 

 tain so much oil. The expressed oil is edible and pleasant tasted, but 

 becomes turbid by keeping. It only requires care and attention in its 

 preparation to render it of greater commercial value and importance. 

 The kernels of the fruit of Buchanania lalifolia, Roxb., are a general 

 substitute for almonds among the natives of the Indian Peninsula. 



