The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-09-17

Mn. EDIroR "A friend of mine who lives in a dis
trict where the kukui nut is in great abundance,
applied to ne hiely, to answer a few questions upon
the Gil of that fruit. / communicated to him the fol
lowing information which / partly found in existence
at my arrival here, and partly obtained as the result
of my own observations. Should you find that il
might interest some of your readers, you are welcome
to insert it in your valuable paper
The kernel of the kukui was the .kanaka's CHIEF
artificial luminary, before the Introduction of the
white mans luxuries, and in our days it is still the
only process by which the native lightens his general
room, when he dwells at a great distance from the
city-or, what is often the case, when his idleness
leaves him without means to purchase a lamp and
somewhat to feed it.
The late intelligent and Industrious William
French was the first to erect a mill for the production
of kukui oil, and his produce was used for paint and
light-but the c~heapness of the whaler's oil, and the
quicker drying properties of linseed oil have reduced
that business to a less profitable condition than many
other undertakings. and it was already ahGndoned
when | reached these shores, in 1851
As a light generator, kukui oil il b impaired
by the kanaka's process of torrefactio1 NJ carbon
ises q part of the fluid. and impartn1 Bth q dark tinge
and a viscid nature to it; in ~respectto that imperfect
ion the mill of Mr.. Widemann, on Kauai, has effaced
it, by its cold drawn amber oil.
AS a vehiculum for color, its dessicating virtue
is, by far, inferior to linseed oil. This proceeds from
the absence of the glutinous body that is in suspen-
sion in the latter.
For outdoor work, where the temperature is a
powerful auxiliary, kukui oil has, for some time past
been employed to make paint but for inside work
where twice and thrice the usual time is absorbed in
drying, linseed oil will not be superseded, unless
kukui is chemically brought to fill the same Office.
In regard to the saponization of kukui oil, like
several other fatty matters, caustic soda win only
convert it into hard soap when combined with other
greasy substances, which is the case with many
other dissolve oil excepted. To make soap of olive
oil, the worst sorts only are made use of, since it is a
fact admitted in chemistry, that the r~ancidity or the
beginning of Il decomposition establishes a greater
affinity between the alcali and the body TO be sapon-
lied; according to that law an impure kukui Is easier
made into soap than a fresh, lightly colored oil.
For culinary purposes, the kukui oil might be used
in the same way as is the walnut oil, in some parts
of France and Germany. The flavor peculiar to ami
NAL and vegetable greases, whether liquid or solid,
resides in the coloring matter of the homogeneous
body. Thus the oleine extracted from tallow has a
strong tang, and exhibits a brown color, leaving the
stearine inodor, hard and snow white; the same
result is obtained in freeing the cocoanut butter of its
oil, and l have seen some thus prepared by a French
chemist, at Tahiti, that was in every respect as sweet
as the best lard. La the kukui, the coloring and
odOrous principle is more intimately united with the
purer part of the whole, therefore more difficult to
expel but, Judging from my experiments upon the
agency of animal charcoal, l believe that the charred
residuum of the hydrocyanate of potash Ga yellow
c9stalised salt to produce the Prussian blue with an
{de of iron) would operate a complete discoloration
~ that oil, at a mere nominal expense. l have also
.>xl to neutralize its flavor by a more palatable one,
Ind have succeeded in assimilating it to walnut oil.
1 have still two other applications in operation
fspof which is of a great importance. In case of
thccess, which will be shown in \ few weeks, L will
Mildly publish a postscript to this letter.
am, &C.,
D.. FRICK, LII. D.
Bungalow, Sept. Is, 1857.