OF THE COCO-NUT TREE. 
133 
When intimately mixed with lime, jagery forms an ex- 
cellent cement, which resists moisture, and endures great 
solar heat. It is capable of taking on a very fine polish. 
Walls are prepared for receiving this covering, by wetting 
them with a strong infusion of the husk of unripe cocos ; 
and the same kind of fluid is used for mixing and temper- 
ing the materials. In Madras, and some other parts of 
India, the flat tops of the houses are covered with this 
cement. It is much employed to cover columns, as also 
to form the floors of rooms. Floors of this kind are some- 
times stained and made to resemble the finest marble. It 
is said that jagery-cement has succeeded very well in Hol- 
land. In 1813, Ceylon exported jagery to the value of 
39,245 rix dollars. The Ceylon rix dollar at par, is equal 
to Is. 9d. Sterling. 
When the flower has not been injured, the tree bears 
nuts which are converted to many useful purposes. Young 
coco-nuts are much used by the natives as an article of 
diet. During the unripe state of the fruit, the shell is lined 
Sprengel, in his Historia rei Herbariae, informs us, that the sugar-cane 
is a native of the banks of the Euphrates ; and that the first account we 
have of the fabrication of sugar from this plant, is not earlier than the fifth 
century. From Arabia, this reed found its -way to Egypt, and eventually to 
Europe. In 1306, it was common in the Island of Cyprus ; and, a hun- 
dred years after, it enriched Calabria, and the coasts of Spain. While 
Spain was under the dominion of the Moors, the sugar-cane was cultivated 
in Andalusia, and mga.r manufactured from it. From Sicily it passed to 
Madeira, and the Canary Islands. Early in the sixteenth century it was 
transported to America, by a native of Portugal Oviedo saw some sugar 
manufactories in operation at St Domingo, in the year 1513 ; and, in 1520, 
it was carried to the Continent of America. In 1535, Gonzales de Vklosa 
constructed the first cylinder for expressing the sugar cane; and, in 1641, 
canes were transplanted from Brazil to Barbadoes, and thence to the other 
West India Islands — Humboldt's Personal Narrative, vol.iv. p. 179; Jour^ 
£ial dc Pharmacie, torn, ii. p. 386 ; Rees' Encyclopaedia, Article Sugar. 
