THE COCO'^UT PALM. 



56i 



become rancid and dissolred. It has recently been shipped to 

 England in tins state for the purpose of converting into oil. 

 The exports of copperah from Ceylon Avere, in 1842, 115 cwts. ; 

 in 1843, 2,191 ; in 1841, 2,397 ; and in 1852, 39,174 cwts. 



The returned value of the copperah or kernels exported from 

 Ceylon, as entered in the Custom House hooks, is — 



1840 . . 



. . £2,508 



1847 .. 



.. £6,503 



1841 . , 



. . 1,460 



1848 .. 



12,639 



1842 



. . 3,022 



1849 . . 



.. 7,819 



1843 .. 



. . 5,795 



1850 . . 



.. 4,166 



1844 . . 



6,194 



1851 .. 



.. 9,678 



1845 .. 



3,282 



1852 



13,325 



1846 



5.517 







632 cwts. of poonac (being the refuse or cake, after expressing 

 the od) were exported Irom Ceylon in 1842. It is worth there 

 about £10 the ton. 



The oil from the nut is obtained for culinary purposes by boiling 

 the fresh pulp, and skimming it as it rises. That for exportation 

 is usually obtained by pressing the copperah in a simple press 

 turned by bullocks. Eecently, however, steam power has been 

 applied in Colombo, with great advantage. About 2|- gallons of 

 oil per 100 nuts, are usually obtained. It is requisite that care 

 should be taken not to apply too great and sudden a pressure at 

 once, but b}' degrees an increasing force, so as not to choke the 

 conducting channels of the oil in the press. 



In many of the colonies the oil is expressed by the slow and 

 laborious liaud process of grating the pulp. 



The quantity shipped from Ceylon was 2,250 tuns, in 1842 ; 

 3,985 in 1843; 2,331 in 1844 ; 1,797 in 1845. The quantity in 

 gallons shipped since, was 101,553 in 1846 ; 197,850 in 1847 ; 

 300,140 m 1848 ; 867,326 in 1849 ; 407,960 in 1850; 442,700 

 in 1851 ; nnd 749,028 in 1852. 



The duty on importation is of and from British possessions, 

 7d. and 7-8ths. per cwt. ; if the produce of foreign possessions, 

 Is. 3f d. per cwt. In the close of 1852, the price of coco-nut oil 

 in the London market Avas, for Ceylon, £32, £33, to £33 10s. per 

 ton ; Cochin, middling to fine, £34 to £35. 



The following return shows the Custom House valuation of 

 the oil shipped from Ceylon for a series of j ears, and which is of 

 course much below its real value : — 



1839 



£26,597 



1846 



£ 7,939 



1840 



32,483 



1847 



19,142 



1841 



24,052 



1848 



24,839 



1842 



34,242 



1849 



34,831 



1843 



43,874 



1850 



35,035 



1844 



24,067 



1851 



31,444 



1845 



15,945 



1852 



58,045 



Among the coco-nut oil exported from Ceylon, in 1849, there 

 were 47,427^ gallons, valued at £3,595, the whole of which, I 

 believe, was Cochin oil; the raw material of this kind not being, like 

 the copperah generally in Ceylon, subjected to the action of fire, 



2 o 



