New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-06

s325 31s wortA- from Colombia SIS. 412 worth,
from Cuba s115.TO6 worth. from Honduras $751;
$50 worth and from Nicaragua S13196 worth
When a schooner reaches the San Bias coast
TO pick up a cargo Of cocoanuts. it sails along
the coast from one harbor to another. taking
aboard a few thousand here and there. There
are six vessels plying between this region Of
Central America and New-YOrk, and they visit
such ports as Cortla, the River Diablo. Plan
chica the Isle Of Pines and the Blue Fields. fur
Their north The nuts brought to harbOr for
shipment In small sloops. each holding about
ten thousand cocoanuts. The sIoop owners buy
the nuts from the Indians along the shore for
about half cent apiece. Mules laden with
nuts are driven out TO the sIoOps, and these
patient beasts Of burden will wade in up to
their nostriIs without showing any nervousness.
When a ship arrives in New-York with about
four hundred thousand nuts in it's hold they
are taken out in baskets and knocked one
against another to determine their quality. II
they strike with a sharp click they are sound.
and are thrown into bags labeled select" II
they are cracked and strike with dull thud.
they are thrown aside as sprouts" IL small
they are set apart as "culls." When dozen
men rapidly sorting cocoanuts on a South
ST. wharf they make a distant passerby imagine
he hears the rattle of musketry.
There is no tree so widely distributed through
out the tropics as the cOcOanut. Even on re-
mote atOIls Of the South Seas, which geologjsts
say were only recently formed by the subsistence
Of volcano and the growth of coral up from
its base, one finds the cocOanut. The parent
tree leaning over the beach Of one tropical
island drops its fruit into the sea- to have the
nut carried away perchance half ray round the
world Then in some PARKWAY place the waves
cast the cOcOanut ashore to sprout and propa-
gate another forest after it's own kind The
cocoanUt It tumbIes from the tree and the
cocoanut on SOuth-st- wharf differ as much
as Chestnut burr and chestnut. The hard
smell IS originally encased in a fbrOus hull
which the native shUcks of before he sells the
nut to the fruiterer. Within It's hard. woody
huh the ripe nut holds a transparent LIQUID.
which forms one of the chief beverages OF many
savage races In the South Sea Islands the
natives ferTent the cocoanut milk and procure
mildly intoxicating liquor When the nut Is
permitted TO stand a long time after picking.
the milk becomes white. and II is in this state
that the NOrtherner knows it best In the health
resorts OK the Bahamas. cOcOanut milk is fire.
quvntly prescribed for invalids. who drain as
many as dozen nuts in one day.
Many pagan people regard the cOcoanut az
OF divine origin. because it is so useful II
supplies almost all their needs. With its trunk
they build houses. with it's leaves they thatch
their roofs. the fibre Of its shell they weave
into clothes. the hard wood OF the nuts they
cut into bowls and saucers its rind is their food.
It's milk is their drink. and its narcotic root
they dry and smoke.
In modern commerce the cocoanut may be
adapted TO as many although not vitality i'm
pOrtant uses as among tropical savages. From
the pulpy rind is manufactured the desiccated
cOcoanut for pies and cakes. or cOcoanut oil.
from which a soap is produced that forms a
suds with salt water. The oil also furnishes
sort of butter. which one finds on the tables OF
Hebrew q
is used for cOrdage and for stuffing mattresses
and cOuches. Even the hard. woody shells in
some States are ground up to adulterate allspice
and black pepper. The State Board OF Health
Of Connecticut recently examined 14T samples
of pepper. and found that twenty-one wers
adulterated with grc-rd cOcoanut shellA
y Il