The fruit of the cocoa-nut palm, (_Cocos nucifera_), which is the most
useful tree of all its tribe to the natives of the regions in which
it grows, is one of the most valuable and important of commercial
products. On the Malabar and Corvomandel coasts of India the trees
grow in vast numbers; and in Ceylon, which is peculiarly well situated
for their cultivation, it is estimated that twenty millions of the
trees flourish. The wealth of a native in Ceylon is estimated by his
property in cocoa-nut trees, and Sir Emerson Tennent notes a law
case in a district court in which the subject in dispute was a claim
of the twenty-fifth twentieth part of an acre of palms. The tree is
very beautiful and lofty, growing to a height of from sixty to one
hundred feet, with a cylindrical stem which attains a thickness of two
feet. It terminates in a crown of graceful leaves. The leaf sometimes
attains a length of twenty feet, consists of a strong mid-rib, whence
numerous long, acute leaflets spring, giving the whole, as one traveler
described it, the appearance of a gigantic feather. The fruit consists
of a thick external husk or rind of a fibrous structure, within which
is the ordinary cocoa-nut of commerce. The nut has a very hard, woody
shell, inclosing the kernel, within which again is a milky substance of
a rather agreeable taste.
The cocoa-nut palm is so widely disseminated throughout tropical
countries that it is impossible to distinguish its original habitat.
It flourishes with equal vigor on the coast of the East Indies,
throughout the tropical islands of the Pacific, and in the West Indies
and tropical America. It is most at home, however, in the numerous
small islands of the Pacific Ocean. Its wide dissemination is accounted
for by the shape of the fruit, which, dropping into the sea from trees
growing along the shores, would be carried by the tides and currents
to be cast up and to vegetate on distant coasts.
The uses to which the various parts of the cocoa-nut tree are applied
in the regions of their growth are almost endless. The nuts supply
a considerable proportion of the food of the people, and the liquor
enclosed within them forms a pleasant and refreshing drink. The liquid
may also be boiled down to sugar. When distilled it yields a spirit
which is known as "arrack." The trunk yields a timber which is known
in commerce as porcupine wood, and is used for building, furniture,
and firewood; the leaves are plaited into fans and baskets, and for
thatching roofs of houses; the shell of the nut is employed as a water
vessel, and the outer husk or rind yields the fiber which is used for
the manufacture of ropes, brushes, cordage and the like. Cocoa-nut-oil
is an important article of commerce. It is obtained by pressing or
boiling the kernels, which are first broken up into small pieces and
dried in the sun. It is estimated that one thousand full-sized nuts
will produce upwards of twenty-five gallons of oil. The oil is a
white, solid substance at ordinary temperature, with a peculiar rather
disagreeable odor. Under pressure it spreads into a liquid and a solid,
the latter being extensively used in the manufacture of candles.
Within late years the oil has also been manufactured into cocoa-nut
butter, retaining, however, in a greater or less degree a distinct
flavor of the nut.
The monkeys and orang-outangs are very expert in destroying the tough
outer covering of the cocoa-nut, though quite two inches thick. They
insert their teeth into the tapering end of the nut, where the shell is
very uneven, hold it firmly with the right foot, and with the left tear
the covering to pieces. Then thrusting a finger into one of the natural
apertures they pierce a hole, drink the milk, break the shell on some
hard object and eat the kernel.