COCOANUT PRODUCTS.

a5

staples of Ceylon agriculture, both for local use and for
export. Luxuriantly though it grows in Ceylon, especially
in the coast regions of the south and west, there is good
reason to suppose that it is not strictly native, but was
brought by the equatorial currents from further east in very
early times. It flourishes best in the wetter coast regions,
but is also cultivated to a considerable distance inland and
up to a height of about 2,000 ft. above sea level. The culti.
vation is mainly in native hands, though in recent years a
number of Europeans have invested in what is sometimes
termed the “consols of Ceylon planting.” Almost every
Sinhalese hut has a few of these palms near it, and many
very large cocoanut estates are cultivated by wealthy native
proprietors.
The villager obtains from this palm many of the necessaries
 of life: the large leaves are woven into thatching
“cadjans,” into mats, baskets, &amp;ec.; their stalks and midribs
make fences, brooms, yokes, and many other utensils. The
trunk affords rafters, beams, troughs, canoes, and many
articles of furniture, &amp;c. The bud or “cabbage” at the
apex of the stem makes an excellent vegetable, and is made
into preserves. When the palm is flowering the main
flower stalk can be tapped for toddy—a drink like the
Mexican “pulque,” containing a lot of sugar. Evaporation
of the toddy furnishes a coarse but good sugar known as
jaggery ; its fermentation gives an alcoholic drink, from
which distillation produces the strong spirit known as arrack,
while further fermentation gives vinegar.
The fruits while young contain a pint or more of a cool
sweetish watery fluid, which affords a most refreshing drink.
As the nut ripens the water decreases and the kernel
hardens. The nuts are gathered at about ten months old.
Their kernels are eaten raw, in curries, and in other ways,
milk is expressed from them for flavouring curries and
other purposes, and oil is extracted from them by boiling.
The commercial oil, in which there is a very large trade, is
obtained by first drying the kernels in the gun or by artificial
 means till they form what is termed copra, and then
pressing this copra in mills. About two-thirds of the weight
is obtained as oil, and the refuge cake,” or poonac, forms
a valuable fattening food for cattle and poultry. The
oil is occasionally used for lighting, but its great use,
especially in Europe, is for soap making ; it also forms a good
hair dressing, and is largely used: for the manufacture of
candles, as it separates under pressure into a hard wax-like
body, stearine, and a liquid oleine. The shell of the nut,
after the kernel is taken out, forms drinking cups, bowls.