The Portland daily press., 1898-12-16
SOMETHING ABOUT cocoaNuTs.
A Promising Field of Commercial In
dustry Is Our New Island Possess
sfOns.

ssThere are three stages or different con-
ditions through which the milk of the co.
coanut passes, in each of which it is excel
lent" said Capt. Nathan Truelove, some
south Pacific Islands. He had paused at
a fruiterer's stand and was examining a
pile of cocoanuts in the husk displayed
there with an air of interest. 1.-THE first
is when the meat and milk in the green
cocoanut have not yet separated and are
blended together in a semi-fuid pulp,
about the consistency of waterloo, and
may be scooped out and eaten with q
spoon The. second is when the meat
is newly hardened against the inside of
the she'll and the hollow whiting is filled
with the fragrant, cooling milk, one of
the most beautiful and refreshing
draughts that man can find in the
tropical lands. The third state, to which
few people outside the tropics are initiat-
ed, is when the cocoanut is sprou5ing and
the embryo palm tree, formed from the
milk, and the best of the meat lies in the
hollow that is left, kernel within a
kernel, SO to speak, and one of the dainti-
est morsels that man ever lifted 10 his
mouth. l was in hopes to find a sprout-
ing cocoanut among these, but there is
none. Here is whers the green sprouts
are to be looked form the monkey s
face, as the boys say-the three round de-
pressions which they call mouth and
eyes in the small end of the nut.
"What we call milk in tho cocoanut the
South Sea people call water. Cocoanut
milk, with them is the kernel grated nne
and mixed with this fluid The resulting
com pound is of the consistency OF cream,
milk-white in color and delicious to the
lasts. 1t is SO rich that one can eat but
litte of it directly, ana it is principally
used. mixed with other substances, in
preparing dessert dishes and as frosting
for cake. In the Micronesian and other
tropical Pacific island groups the cocoa
palm grows everywhere that enough earth
can be found above the coral reefs to give
It's roots hold, and is the most ail-round
useful tree there is It's nuts serve the
natives for food and drink and are a
chief resource Tor barter.
1.-THE juice drawn from the undeyeloped
flowers of the cocoa palm just before
their budding is sweet and pleasant to
the taste, anu is often given to sickly or
wear ming children When allowed to fer
ment it becomes toddy, the fayorite
tipple of South Sea Islanders, ana by dis
tillation the fermented juice yields
potent liquor, resembling The East India
arrack ana known by the same name
Boiled down and sugared, the palm juice
makes the delicious juggeree which the
Javanese bum boatmen bring out to sell
60 the passengers ana sailors of ships that
put in at Batavia and other parts OF
Java. The wood of the cocoa palm, COM
mercialIy known as porcupine wood, is
valuable in the making Of furniture and
house trimmings. and from the husks OF
the nuts are made the coir rope which
serves as rigging for native craft, and is
worked into mats and baskets
cit is in the production OF oopra that
the cocoa palm has its chief commercial
value Copra is the meat of the cocoanut
dried for export, to be used in the making
OF oil In earlier times the South Sea
natives grated the cocoanut me- a5 and ex-
pressed the oil themselves in a rude lever
press TO barter with cruising traders for
tobacco, liquor and trinkets. Now the
meat is cut by them into pieces of such
size and shape Jas will enable Them to
pack it to the best advantage and is most
ly sent to reg1lar ports OF shipment,
where it's owners receive pay in goods or
money. The copra is shipped to Europe
or America to factories where the oil is
expressed to bs applied to varsity of
uses Cocoa stsarin is much used in can
die making, and the oil enters largely
into the marine soap which can be used
for toilet and laundry purposes in sea
water When it is considered that 1000
nuts will make 500 pounds of copra,
which will yield twenty-five gallons of
oil, one of the possibilities OF our new
Philippine possessions be comes evident. y