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COCOA-NUTS, 
of fowls, some sweet potatoes (of these, however, 
one may eat only very sparingly), and some of 
the small oranges which grow there — sweet, in- 
deed, and grateful. 
Here I first learnt how useful a culinary aid 
the cocoa-nut is as an article of food, and how 
delicious the water it contains is as a beverage. 
It is almost impossible for you to understand 
what a boon it was to us in Timor Jaut. When 
recovering from a fever attack, my greatest com- 
fort was the water from the young cocoa-nut ; 
and when this is extracted, on breaking the nut 
a thin layer of delicious pulp, of the colour and 
consistency of thin corn-flour, can be scraped off. 
The hard part of mature nuts is grated, and, when 
boiled, the oil skimmed off is used for frying. 
When the oil is made daily, the flavour given to 
food cooked in it is, I think, delicious ; but when 
it is the least rancid, it is just as disagreeable. 
It is, no doubt, troublesome to make the oil so 
frequently, for the grating is tedious, and it must 
be slowly boiled ; still, Kobez was not so op- 
pressed by many duties that he could not find 
time to make it himself. We learnt, at the close 
of our stay, that almost daily he went to the 
post-holder’s house, and, with his nonya's com- 
pliments, demanded a bottle of oil ! 
