COCOA-NUT. 217 
used as food in various modes of dressing, and some- 
times are cut into pieces and dried. When pressed in 
a mill, they yield an oil, which, in some countries, is 
the only oil used at table; and which, when fresh, is 
equal in quality to that of almonds. It, however, soon 
becomes rancid, and, in this state, is principally used 
by painters. The Indians prepare an oil from cocoa- 
nuts, by steeping the kernels in water till they putrefy, 
and then boiling the pulp. In this operation the oil 
rises to the surface, and is skimmed off. This oil is 
used for anointing the hair, in cookery, for burning in 
lamps, and for various other purposes. The milk, or 
fluid, contained in the nuts, is an exceedingly cool 
and agreeable beverage, which, when good, somewhat 
resembles the kernel in flavour. 
Cocoa-nut-trees flourish best in a sandy soil, and 
first produce fruit when six or seven years old; after 
which each tree yields from fifty to a hundred nuts 
annually. 
The fibrous coats or husks which envelope the cocoa- 
nuts, after they have been soaked for some time in 
water, become soft. They are then beaten, to free 
them from the other substances with which they are 
intermixed, and which fall away like saw-dust, the 
stringy part only being left. This is spun into long 
yarns, woven into sail-cloth, and twisted into ropes and 
cables, even for large vessels. The cordage thus manu- 
factured is valuable in several respects, but particu- 
larly for the advantages that are derived from its 
floating in water. The woody shells of the nut are so 
hard as to be capable of receiving a high polish ; and 
they are formed into drinking cups, and other domestic 
utensils, which are sometimes expensively mounted in 
silver. 
On the summit of the cocoa-nut-tree the tender 
leaves, at their first springing up, are folded over each 
other, so as somewhat to resemble a cabbage. These 
are occasionally eaten in place of culinary greens, and 
are a very delicious food ; but, as they can only be 
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