The Kernel Thus Dried
Is Known As "Copperah." This Is Then Pressed In A Mill, And The
Oil Flows Into A Reservoir.
This oil, although clear and limpid in the tropics, hardens to
the consistence of lard at any temperature below 72 Fahrenheit.
Thus it requires a second preparation on its arrival in England.
There it is spread upon mats (formed of coir) to the thickness of
an inch, and then covered by a similar protection. These fat
sandwiches are two feet square, and being piled one upon the
other to a height of about six feet in an hydraulic press, are
subjected to a pressure of some hundred tons. This disengages
the pure oleaginous parts from the more insoluble portions, and
the fat residue, being increased in hardness by its extra
density, is mixed with stearine, and by a variety of
preparations is converted into candles. The pure oil thus
expressed is that known in the shops as cocoa-nut oil.
The cultivation of the cocoa-nut tree is now carried to a great
extent, both by natives and Europeans; by the former it is grown
for a variety of purposes, but by the latter its profits are
confined to oil, coir and poonac. The latter is the refuse Of
the nut after the oil has been expressed, and corresponds in its
uses to the linseed-oil cake of England, being chiefly employed
for fattening cattle, pigs and poultry.
The preparation of coir is a dirty and offensive occupation.
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