mats to protect the shoulders from the rain.
On Palm Sundays the folioles or leaflets of
the coco-palms are used in the religious
ceremonies at the Mauritius, instead of the
box-wood which all staunch Catholics have
blessed, and placed over their beds in France
and England.

The leaflets of the coco-palms have been
used, from immemorial times, to make paper
for letters and books. Quintus Curtius
speaks of this paper, which he erroneously
says was made of the bark of the trees. The
young and tender leaflets preserve best their
whiteness and elasticity. The leaves of this
paper are called Oila, and are placed above
each other, and tied together by means of a
string which passes through the bundle at
each end. When writing upon them, the
Indians and Cingalese hold the book in one
hand while they mark upon it with a stylet
in the other. They write on both sides from
right to left and then immediately pass
blacking and oil over the newly-traced letters.
In former times letters were sent to the
Grand Mogul, or to his ministers, enclosed in
bamboo canes, which were sealed with gum-
lac. Pyrard de Laval mentions naïvely the
use of these leaflets, to tell the old, old story,
which always will be young, young, young.
"In the month of December, or about the
time of Palm-week, you may see the boys
and girls caressing and making love more
than at any other season. They send each
other songs, sonnets, and little verses written
upon coco-leaves which are white as paper,
and which they mark with stylets."

The topmost bud of the coco-palm forms
what is called the coco-cabbage. The natives
eat it raw, in which state it is an excellent
aliment, and Europeans eat it as achards,
when preserved in hot Indian spices; as
pickles when preserved in vinegar; and as
salad and sauce.

But it is high time I should mention the
products of the interior of the coco-palms.
The liquor which the English call toddy is
procured by bleeding the trunks and flower-
stalks. It is obtained like maple sugar. The
negroes of Saint Thomas bore a hole into the
trunk just under the leaves, and insert in it
a bit of bark, which serves as a pipe to
conduct the sap into a calabash. Grass and
leaves cover carefully the mouth of the calabash,
to preserve the liquor from the bees
and lizards, which partake of the hominal
taste for toddy. The best toddy is obtained
from the spadice. During the period of its
fertility, the coco-palm develops a spadice
monthly, which, when wounded, weeps
abundantly for thirty days, and a month longer
prior to becoming dry. Two vases collect
continually the tears of the coco flowers.
When fresh the toddy is sweet and agreeable;
it afterwards becomes tart and
intoxicating. The natives mix with it the
bruised berries of Datura stramonium, and
English soldiers put capsicum into it to
give it a taste of gingerbeer. Coco jaggary
is the sugar obtained by evaporating the sap.
Coco galgale is a preparation of coco oil,
jaggary, and lime, used to pitch boats.
Arrack is the spirit obtained by distilling the
fermented sap. Arrack is to the Parias of
the swarthy races, what gin, whiskey, and
brandy are to the Parias of the white races
of the human family. When the nut is
about seven months old, it yields the
celebrated coco water. The unanimous testimony
of navigators declares this liquor to be
an unrivalled antiscorbutic. Dr. Charles
Reynaud drunk no other beverage during a
residence of six months in the island of Diego
Garcia, and never enjoyed better health.
Coco cream is the water while still a sweet
white liquid, and before it hardens into the
almond. The almond must not be judged
of by the old, dry, leathery, and oily
substance found in the nuts sold in Europe.
Jams and puddings are made of coco
almonds. The albumine and fibrine which
they contain make them very nutritive.
The oil in the old nuts renders them difficult
of digestion. The coco oil or butter consists
of the fatty substance in the nuts. The
British have replaced the rude wooden
mortars of the natives for breaking the nuts,
by hydraulic presses and steam-engines in
the island of Ceylon. After two days'
exposure to the sun, the almonds detach
themselves from the shells, and after two days
more they grow greasy and oily. The poor
natives boil the nuts and skim off the oil as
it floats upon the top, which serves them for
daily use. It is said that there is no oil
which burns more brilliantly than coco oil.

I ought not to conclude without expressing
my obligations to Dr. Charles Reynaud. This
young medical man is a native of the Mauritius,
where his father is a manufacturer of
coco oil. He has accumulated in his recently
published thesis for his degree, which he has
taken in Paris, all the observations made by
himself and friends in his native island, and
all the results of his own long, laborious, and
intelligent researches in European public
libraries. He frequently quotes an article
which appeared in Household Words in the
year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, relating
chiefly to the culture of the coco-nut tree in
Ceylon.

Now ready in Twenty-eight pages, stitched. Price
Fourpence, the HOUSEHOLD WORDS ALMANAC for
the Year 1857. Also, price Threepence, or stamped
Fourpence, THE
WRECK OF TFIE GOLDEN MARY:
Being the CAPTAIN'S ACCOUNT of the LOSS OF
THE SHIP, and the MATE'S ACCOUNT of the GREAT
DELIVERANCE OF HER PEOPLE IN AN OPEN
BOAT AT SEA; forming THE CHRISTMAS NUMBER
of HOUSEHOLD WORDS.
THE NEW VOLUME of Household Words, price 5s. 6d.,
is now ready.