FRUIT, AND GERMINATING PROCESS. 55 
the juice of the cocoa-nut can be formed from 
that found in the nuts brought to England. These 
are old and dry, and the fluid comparatively ran¬ 
cid ; in this state they are never used by the 
natives, except for the purpose of planting or ex¬ 
tracting oil. The shell of the oua, or young cocoa- 
nut, is used medicinally. 
In a few weeks after the nut has reached its full 
size, a soft white pulp, remarkably delicate and 
sweet, resembling, in consistence and appearance, 
the white of a slightly boiled egg, is formed around 
the inside of the shell. In this state it is called 
niaa , and is eaten by the chiefs as an article of 
luxury, and used in preparing many of what may 
be called the made-dishes of Tahitian banquets. 
After remaining a month or six weeks longer, the 
pulp on the inside becomes much firmer, and 
rather more than half an inch in thickness. The 
juice assumes a whitish colour, and a sharper 
taste. It is now called omoto , and is not so much 
used. If allowed to hang two or three months 
longer on the tree, the outside skin becomes yel¬ 
low and brown, the shell hardens, the kernel 
increases to an inch or an inch and a quarter in 
thickness, and the liquid is reduced to less than 
half a pint. It is now called opaa , and, after 
hanging some months on the tree, falls to the 
ground. The hard nut is sometimes broken in 
two, and broiled, or eaten as taken from the tree, 
but is generally used in making oil 
If the cocoa-nut be kept long after it is fully 
ripe, a white, sweet, spongy substance is formed 
in the inside, originating at the inner end of the 
germ which is enclosed in the kernel, immediately 
opposite one of the three apertures or eyes, in the 
sharpest end of the shell, which is opposite to that 
