Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-04-06
SOMETHING ABOUT COc0ANUTs.
A Promising Field Of Commercial Industry
In Oar New Island Possessions.

II VuI NCW lbtouO IOovSbbhVuos
'"There are three stages or different
conditions through which the milk OF
the cOcoanut passes, in each OF which
IL is excellent" said Captain Nathan
ing craft in the South Pacific Islands.
He had paused at fruiterer's stand
and was examining pile of cocoanuts
in the husk displayed there with an air
OF interest The first is when the
meat and milk in the green cocoanut
have not yet separated and are blend
ed together In Il semi-fiuid pulp, about
Of the consistency of water Ice, and
may be scooped out and eaten with a
spoon. The second is when the meat
is newly hardened against the inside
of the shell and the hollow within Is
filled with the fragrant, cooling milk,
one of the most beautiful and refresh
ing draughts that a man can find in
the tropical lands. The third stage, to
which few people outside the tropics
are initiated, is when the cOcoanut is
sprOutlng and the embryo palm tree,
formed from the milk, and the best of
the meat lies in the hollow that Is left,
kernel within Kernel, so to speak,
and one of the daintiest morsels that
man ever lifted to his mouth. / was
in hopes to find sprouting cocoanut
among these, but there is none. Here
is where the green sprouts are to be
looked form the monkeys face, as
the boys say-the three round depres-
sions which they call a mouth and
eyes I'm the small end of the nut.
what we call milk in the cocoanut
the South Sea people call water. Co
coanut milk with them is the kernel
grated fine and mixed with this fluid.
The resulting compound is of the con-
sistency of cream milkwhite in color
and delicious 10 the taste. 1t is so
rich that one can eat but little of Ii
directly, and it is principally used,
mixed with other substances, in pre-
pairing dessert dishes and as a frost
ing 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 its roots a hold, and
is the most all-round useful tree there
is. It's nuts serve the natives for food
and drink and are chief resource for
barter.
The juice drawn from the undevel-
oped flowers of the cocoa palm just
before their budding is SWEET and pleas
ant to the taste, and is often given to
sickly or weaving children. When al
lowed TO ferment it becomes 'toddy.'
the favorite tipple of South Sea Island
ers, and by distillation the fermented
juice yields potent liquor, resembling
the East India arrack and known by
the same name. Boiled down and SUI
CARED, the palm juice makes the jug
geree which the Japanese bumboatmen
bring out TO sell to the passengers and
sailors of ships that put in at Batavia
and other parts of Java. The wood
of the cocoa palm, commercially
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.
ut is in the production of copra
that the cocoa palm has its chief COM
mercial value. Copra is the meat Of
the cocoanut dried Tor export, to be
used I'm the making Of oil. In earlier
times the South Sea natives grated the
cocoanut meat and expressed the oil
themselves i'm rude lever press, to
barter with cruising traders for to-
bacco, liquor, and trinkets. Now the
meat is cut by them into pieces of
such size and shape as will enable
them to pack ii TO the best advantage
and Is mostly sent to regular ports Of
shipment, where the owners receive
pay in goods or money. The copra is
shipped to Europe or America to fac
tories where the oil is expressed to be
applied TO n variety of uses. Cocoa
stearin is much used in candle max
ing, and the oil enters largely into the
marine soap which can be used for
toilet or laundry purposes in sea wa
ter. When il is considered that 1000
nuts will make 500 pounds of copra,
which will yield twenty-five gallons of
OIL one of the most commercial posi-
bilities of our new Philippine posses
sions becomes evident. The Sun.