Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-02-08
Feasting On CahOon and Monkey.

We worked our way through sandy,
worthless region, covered with va.
riety of red pine and growing so closely
as to permit one to see but short
distance through, but still further in
land this "pine terrace" is succeeded by
what is called the "Cahoon ridge" or
that section in which the ''cahoon palm"
grows. This 'cahoon" palm requires the
very richest soil, but it abounds only in
Belize, Central America. Though wild,
these ''cahoon' forests appear as if
planted with the regularity of coffee
plantation. The trees are at such a dis
tar apart that the foliage at the top of
one joins that of its four nelghbors, i'm
pressing one walking underneath as an
immense system of groined arches. The
main trunk to height of twenty five feet
, from the ground seldom has green
sprig on it. The trees grow about fif-
teen feet from each other, and the ever
green roof is so impervious to the sun
that the rich soil underneath bears but
little herbage. The ''cahoon" grows
each year a crop of nuts, each one a
little larger than a ducks egg. They
grow in bunches very much as grapes
do, and with proportionately short
TENS. Some large punches shown as
uriosities had as many as 1000 nuts.
be natives extract valuable oil from
e nuts in very crude manner. The
leat of the nut tastes like the Brazil
ut, but is much richer in oil. The hard
nell is cracked between stones, then the
.ernel Is mashed by rubb ng 1t between
ugh stone surfaces; this is boiled in
ater until nearly all the water has gone
f in steam and vapor; then this pro-
iuct is heated in pans to drive off any
fcmaining water, and then it is placed
IN bottles for market. The commercial
aue of the oil is about equal to that of
cocoanut oil, but no advantage seems to
be taken of its abundance From 100 to
125 nuts produce one quart, but with de-
cent machinery the yield would be one
third greater. In the higher lands the
natives use no other light than the "fat-
pine torch, but along the coast l saw
nothing burned but "cahoon" oil, and
it is said to burn twice as long as that
from the cocoanut.
These forests are the home of hundreds
of varieties of bright plumaged birds, as
well as small deer about the size of our
antelope. A small black monkey, with
long hair lives in the "cahoon" tree, and
the natives who accompanied us pre-
ferred that to anything we had to offer
them. Among the dozen natives who
came with us were two very old shot
guns, and with these they brought down
four fat monkeys in about dozen shots.
VIII le some were sknning and cleaning
the game the others built circular fire.
A stick about four feet long is then cut
and stripped of its bark and pointed
sharp at one end. The stick is then run
in and out af the skin down the back
bone, and when the monkey IS thus firmly
impaled the stick is planted In the
ground near enough to the fire to roast,
and one native turns the monkey around
the stick to equalize the cooking. If the
monkey himself does not furnish enough
fat to cook in his flesh is well rubbed
with "cahoon" nut. When thus pre-
pared the meat tastes not unlike chicken,
but when one is not very hungry such q
meal comes rather too close to cannibal'
ism for enjoyment. --NsO York Times.