It rises to a height of from sixty to one hundred feet, and terminates
in a crown, of graceful, waving leaves. Some of these leaves reach a
length of twenty feet, and have the appearance of gigantic feathers.
The fruit consists of a thick outward husk of a fibrous structure, and
within this, is the ordinary cocoa-nut of commerce.
The shell of the nut is hard and woody, and a little over a quarter of
an inch in thickness. Next to this shell is the kernel, which is also a
shell about half an inch thick, and composed of a white substance very
pleasant to the taste. Within this white eatable shell, is a milky
liquid, called cocoa-nut milk.
[Illustration]
The cocoa-nut is very useful to the natives of the regions in which it
grows. The nuts supply a large portion of their food, and the milky
fluid inclosed within, forms a pleasant and refreshing drink.
The shell of the nut is made into cups, and from the kernel, cocoa-nut
oil is pressed out and largely used in making soap and for other
purposes.
In Ceylon, the tree is cultivated extensively. It is estimated that
there are twenty million trees in that island, and that each tree
produces about sixty nuts yearly.
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