138 NATURAL AND ECONOMICAL HISTORY 
thereby supplies the oily fluid necessary in the composition 
of curry. A due proportion of spices is added to the mix- 
ture before it is removed from the fire. When coco-nuts 
cannot be procured, ghee (clarified butter) is used as a 
substitute in the preparation of this delicious dish. In 
Bengal, and, I believe, over great part of the peninsula of 
India? curry is chiefly prepared with butter or ghee. The 
Ceylon or coco-nut curry possesses much of the flavour of 
the nut ; it has a light-yellow colour, and is easily digested, 
the oily part of the mixture being seldom too abundant. 
But the chief product of the kernel of the coco-nut is an 
excellent oil : and, to extract it, two different processes are 
employed ; namely, decoction and expression. When the 
former process is followed, the fresh kernel is finely rasped ; 
the raspings are next washed with water, which assumes a 
milky appearance ; and, by decoction, yields a limpid oil. If 
the emulsion be exposed for a night, it separates spontane- 
ously into an oily and a watery portion, and the oily part is 
purified by a very short boiling. To separate the oil, the 
operator, who is generally a female, lays the palm of her left 
hand flat upon the surface of the fluid ; a portion of oil 
adheres to the hand, which is brushed off into a vessel by 
the right hand. The oil made in this manner is nearly as 
colourless as water, and when newly prepared does not smell 
offensively. In the course of a few days, particularly if 
exposed to the atmosphere, it emits a disagreeable odour. 
On an average ten nuts are stated by Mr Bartolacci to 
yield about a quart of oil ; but Koster, who made the 
experiment, says, that thirty- two nuts rendered him only 
8 lb. of pure oil. 
Compression is the process chiefly adopted when coco- 
nut oil is prepared in the large way. After clearing the nut 
of the husk, the kernel is exposed, which is efi^ected by 
breaking the shell with a crooked knife, an operation which 
