6o IVONDBRS OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS, 
man, contributes in so vian^/ ways to liis wants and com- 
fort as this inestimable palm ; and it is a curious illustra- 
tion of its innumerable uses, that some years ago a ship 
from the ilaldive Islands touched at Galle, which was 
entirely built, rigged, provisioned, and laden witli the 
produce of the cocoa-tree. Besides furnishing theii* chief 
food to many tribes on the coast within the torrid zone, 
the nut contains a valuable oil, which bums without 
smoke or smell, and serves, 
when fresh, for culinary 
purposes. Consisting of a 
mixture of solid and lluid 
fat, it congeals at a tem- 
perature of 73^; but both 
its component substances 
acquire additional value 
after having been separated 
by means of the hydraulic 
press ; for while the liquid 
part furnishes an excellent 
lamp-oil, the solid fat is 
nmniifactured into candles 
rivalling wax, and at the 
same time not much dearer 
til an tallow. 
This important product 
first became known in the 
European markets at the 
beginning of the present century, and is now a consider- 
able article of commercej so that, to meet the constantly 
increasing demand, new plantations are continually form- 
ing on the coasts of Ceylon, Java^ and other islands of 
the Indian Ocean. 
The iibrons rind or husk of the nut furnishes coir, a 
scarcely less important article of trade than the oil 
itself- It is prepared by being soaked for some months 
in water, for the purpose of decomposing the interstitial 
COCOA-SUT TREK. 
