COCOA NUT. The cocoa-nut tree is found all over the tropical parts of the world, especially in the vicinity of the sea, growing within reach of salt water, and establishing itself upon reefs and sand-banks as soon as they emerge from the ocean. Its great im portance to man has caused it to be cultivated wherever the climate is favourable to its growth ; the whole Brazilian coast from the river San Francisco to the bar of :Nieman guape, a distance of 280 miles, is, with few breaks, thus occupied ; and it was estimated that in the year 1813 no fewerthan 10,000,000 trees were growing on the south-west coast of Ceylon. The cocoa-nut palm rises like a slender column to from 130 to 00 feet in height.
In hot countries the uses to which the cocoa-nut tree is applicable are innumerable. The roots are chewed in place of the areca nut; gutters, drains, and the posts of huts are formed from the trunk ; the young buds are a delicate vegetable ; shade is furnished by the leaves when growing, and after separa tion from the tree their large size and hard texture render them invaluable as thatch for cottages ; they are, moreover, manufactured into baskets, buckets, lanterns, articles of head dress, and even books, upon which writing is traced with an iron stylus. Their ashes yield potash in abundance ; their midrib forms oars; and brushes are formed by bruising the end of a leaf with a portion of the midrib adhering to it. From the juice of the Stem, a kind of palm wine, and subsequently an ardent spirit, are prepared ; the farinaceous matter contained in the stem is a good substitute for sago ; and a coarse dark coloured sugar, called jagghery, is obtained from inspissating the sap. This .lagghery, mixed with lime, forms a powerful cement, which resists moisture, endures great solar heat, and will take a fine polish. The
ripe fruit is a wholesome food, and the milk it contains, a grateful cooling beverage ; in deed these together constitute the principal sustenance of the poorer Indians in many countries. The fibrous bark is used to polish furniture, as brushes, and to form a valuable elastic cordage called coir ; the fibrous matter of the husk is also employed to stuff mattres ses, and a manufacture of it into cordage, mats, sacking, &c., has lately sprung up in Great Britain. The shell is manufactured into drinking -vessels and vessels of measure; and, fi finally, the albumen, or white solid matter con tained within the shell, yields by pressure or de coction an excellent oil; pressure is the method usually employed. This oil is not only em ployed for burning, but in the manufacture of torches, and in the composition of pharmaceu• tical preparations ; and mixed with dammer (the resin of Slwrea robusta) it forms the sub stance used in India for covering the seams of boats and ships.
Cocoa-nuts are brought to Europe as wedges to set fast the casks and other round pack ages in the cargo of vessels ; their freight therefore costs nothing.
It is a curious circumstance that in com merce there are two kinds of Cocoa-Oil or Oil of Cocoa, entirely different in origin. The Cacao or cocoa seeds, described in the last article, yield a butter or solid oil which is use fully employed in making candles, soaps, and pomatums—chiefly in France. But that sub stance which is quoted in our market-lists as Cocoa-nut Oil is produced from the cocoa-nut, now under notice. So much has this substance now come into demand, that no less than 64,451 cwts. were imported in 1849.