Oils and Fats. 



8 



[January, 1911. 



trees, in the tin cups, in the buckets, 

 etc. It consists of threads or pellicles, 

 mixed with more or less earth refuse 

 or other foreign substance. Its value 

 is estimated to be 30 per cent, less than 

 the fine rubber. 



The harvest and the smoking, in other 

 words, the manufacture of the rubber, 

 lasts from six to seven months a year, 

 and during the other months of the 

 very dry season the trees are not 

 toached. At the overflowing time the 

 harvest is rendered impossible on ac- 

 count of the waters inundating the 

 igapos. It is calculated that the aver- 

 age yield of each tree is 44 grams. (1*55 

 ounce) of latex per day, but one rarely 

 gets more than 5 kilos (11 pounds), which 

 per man represents yearly 450 to 500 



killos (900 to 1,100 pounds) fine rubber 

 and 90 kilos (198 pounds) of sernamby. 



After the manufacture, the rubber is 

 taken to the hut of the foreman, and 

 from there sent to Manaos to the 

 avaidor, who is the supplier of the 

 provisions and of the goods to the 

 seringaes, and who, for the most part, is 

 the real proprietor of the seringal. 

 From the avaidor the rubber is sold 

 to the exporters, who send it to the 

 consuming markets of the world. 



The exporters are the people who 

 make the " beneficiamento," consisting 

 in opening the pells in qualifying them 

 (rubber fine and entrefine) and in pack- 

 ing them up in solid pine cases to be 

 then embarked at the Manaos Harbor 

 on board the trans-atlantics, which take 

 it to the ports of destination. — Revista 

 Literaria Artistica. 



OILS AND FATS. 



THE CULT OP THE COCONUT. 



(Prom Tropical Life, Vol. VII., No. 10, 

 October, 1911.) 



Whilst everyone has heard of the fame 

 of the San Bias nuts, few are certain 

 where San Bias is (most of my enquiries 

 have located the centre in the Philip- 

 pines, but none of them in Panama, 

 where it really is), and so are unable to 

 address themselves to possible sellers of 

 seed-nuts to improve their local supplies. 

 Like the well-known though less famous 

 cocals in the West Indian island of 

 Trinidad, the San Bias nuts come from 

 the sea-shore of what is known as the 

 San Bias coast of Panama. From this 

 Centre the United States alone, accord- 

 ing to the Pan- American Bulletin, take 

 some 6,000,000 nuts, which sell on the 

 New York market, where the nuts are 

 reckoned as being the finest in the world, 

 at prices ranging from $33 to $45 ($l=4.s. 

 2d.) per thousand. 



Coconut planters, therefore, who are 

 not satisfied with the size of their nuts, 

 would do well to get into touch with 

 shippers or planters along the San Bias 

 centre in Panama, and import a supply 

 of seed-nuts from this centre, which has 

 not only been noted for its coconuts for 

 generations past, but has also, of late, 

 added new plantations which, together 

 with the older ones, are carefully looked 

 after. All who have spoken to us of San 

 Bias nuts describe the centre as being 

 perfectly free of disease, but this we 

 cannot vouch for from personal experi- 

 ence. 



Regarding the output of coprah in the 

 South Seas, the London Chamber of 

 Commerce Journal, the other day, report- 

 ed thac the principal coprah-producing 

 country, after India, is the island of 

 Samoa, where, by regulation of the 

 native processes of preparation, it has 

 been possible to double the production 

 of this important article within ten 

 years. Thus, in 1900, the annual crop 

 was about 6.000 tons, and in 1910 it ex- 

 ceeded 12,000 tons. It is predicted that, 

 within a dozen years, some 30,000 tons 

 will be produced in the island of Samoa 

 alone. At the present time the yield 

 per acre is from 9 to 11 quintals. The 

 production of coprah has also recently 

 begun to extend in the New Hebrides, in 

 the Solomon Islands, in Papua, and in 

 certain of the Pacific Islands, All the 

 coprah actually produced in these re- 

 gions goes to Sydney, or passes through 

 that port before being re-exported to 

 Europe. Having regard to the constant 

 development of the production of coprah, 

 it is anticipated that Sydney will become 

 one of the most important markets for 

 this article in the world. 



There is a possible, not to say a prob- 

 able, chance (says the Manila Times, 

 quoting Dr. H. D. Gibbs) that the busi- 

 ness of making sugar in the Philippine 

 Islands may be entirely revolutionized. 

 The advantages of the Nipa product 

 over those of cane lie in there being a 

 practically inexhaustible supply of nipa 

 trees located all over the Archipelago. 

 Another feature is that, since the sugar 

 would be produced from sap, the crushers 



