The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-13
POINTS IN THE cocoANur TRADE.
How the Cargoes from Tahiti Arc Han
died and Disposed OF.

died and Disposed OF.
The barkentine City of Papeete, from
Tahiti, is one of the regular line of
packets that trade directly between this
port and the Society Islands, in the
South Pacific, carrying passengers,
freight and the French mails One of
the vessels of the line leaves here for
Tahiti, under contract to carry the
mails, on the first day of each month.
From here the packets take full car
goes of general merchandise, luxuries
and necessaries, for sale or barter
among the islands of the Tahiti Archi-
pelago On the return voyage they
bring here consignments of mother of
pearl, oranges vanilla, q little cotton,
edible fungus, and cocoanuts and
copra, the latter forming always the
chief part of the cargo.
Few people who see the fresh cocoa
nuts exposed for sale at all the fruit and
vegetable stalls throughout the city, or
who use the desiccated article in pastry
and confectionery, have any idea of the
large number that are imported here
every year. One month 70, 600 cocoa
nuts were imported here, and the aS-
gregate importation for the past twelve
months was 1,143,0 900. They were han
died by three firms, who control all the
shipments to this port, and who supply
the market as far east as the Mississippi.
The nuts sell here at S25 to $50
thousand.
When the arriving vessel is discharged
the nuts are piled up on the dock and
a number are sold to dealers, who take
them with the husks The rest are
taken to the importers warehouses,
where they are prepared for the market.
The first thing necessary is to take off
the thick external husk or rind. This
is done by man called the "husker. "
The husber stands up at his work. Be-
fore him he has firmly fixed upright in
frame sharp pointed steel instrument
about four feet long. 1t is flat on the
side, and looks like harpoon. On this
he impales the nut and so tears off the
husk.
The work is quite laborious, as the
fibrous covering is very tough and
stringy. 1t would take novice about
ten minutes to husk one nut, but ON
experienced husker can strip the rind
off of about 1900 in one day. a
husker is paid 50 per day.
After being husked the good green
nuts, that is, those that have not
sprouted, are sold to the retail fruit
dealers, who sell them for about ten
cents apiece.
The sprouted ones are next taken into
an adjoining room, where they are pre-
pared for the market They are first
put into a.steam chest for the purpose
of softening the hard, woody shell, in
order that it may be more easily bro
ken by the Opener" The steam chest
is about six feet square, and in it are
placed from 1900 to 1000 nuts at
time. They are kept there an hour or
an hour and half, and are then taken
while warm to the opening bench.
The Opener takes the nut in his
left hand and strikes the shell several
smart raps with his opening knife, an
instrument something like an oyster
opener on q large scale. This cracks
the she'll which he then proceeds to
remove, taking great care not to injurc
the nut A good opener can open 100
an hour.
The kernel or nut is then taken to
the peeler, who, with a spoke shave,
peels OF the brown skin, leaving the
white meat. A peeler can peel from
sixty to seventy-five in an hour.
From the peeler the nuts go to the
washtubs, where they are thoroughly
washed in hot water. They are then
cut in quarters and taken to the mills,
which are worked by machinery.
These mills are three in number, and
from them the nuts are turned out in
seven different forms. The three
kinds principally turned out are the
desiccated, for family use; another
coarser for bakers use, and strips
which are used by candy makers.
After leaving the mills certain
amount of granulated sugar is mixed
with the ground nuts in strips, which
are then laid in large, shallow pans
and placed in the driers, series of
large wooden boxes heated by steam
pipes. Here they remain for twelve
or fourteen hours, being carefully
watched meanwhile, and when thor
oughly dried are placed in barrels, box
es or tins, and are then ready for the
market.
The external husk, from which is OBJ
tanned the coarse fiber which is largely
used in some parts of the world in the
manufacture of ropes, cordage, brushes,
door mats, ETC., is only used here as
fuel for the furnace. Several attempts
have been made to utilize it in this
state for various purposes, but without
success.
The importers state that they have
to leave the husk on the nuts on the
voyage, or the nuts would otherwise
spoil.
Copra is the kernel of the cocoanut,
which is broken into pieces and then
allowed to dry in the sun. 1t is esti-
mated that 1000 full sized nuts will
Weld upward of 500 pounds Of copra,
from which twenty-five gallons of oil
can be obtained. The oil is a white
substance, with rather disagreeable
odor, and is used chiefly in the manu-
facture of candles and soap.