THE COCOA. 



221 



wooden mortar, flat -rimmed above, and 4 feet 

 deep, by 3 wide. Formerly as many as 

 70,000 lbs. were exported in a single vessel. 

 Xow the people save trouble by selling the dried 

 nut, and when oil is wanted for home use they 

 press and bruise it in water, which is then 

 boiled; consequently, though the tree again be- 

 gins to cover the Island Coast, the oil is three 

 times dearer than at Bombay. It is calculated 

 that 12,000,000 nuts were exported last year 

 (1856) for the soap and candle trades, and a single 

 French house has an establishment capable of 

 curing 50,000 per diem. Demand has prodigi- 

 ously raised the price of this article. In 1812 the 

 thousand cost from 82 to 82.50 ; in 1857 it was 

 $12.50. Though the coir of Zanzibar is remark- 

 ably fine and was much admired at Calcutta, 

 little use is made of it : some years ago certain 

 Indian Moslems tried to obtain a contract from 

 the local Government, and did not succeed, pre- 

 payment being the first thing insisted upon. 1 



The constitutional indolence of the people, 

 their dislike to settled and regular work, and 

 their Semitic unwillingness to venture money, 

 have, despite cheap labour and low ground-rents, 

 prevented the Island from taking to its most ap- 



1 1 shall speak of the clove in a subsequent chapter. 



