The other occasions on which the spinning of a cocoa-nut is used, are chiefly for amusement, and then no prayer is made, and no degree of credit is attached to the result. The women often spin a cocoa-nut to decide some dispute at a game.
Another valuable production of the cocoa-nut is the oil, which is a valuable article of exportation from Ceylon, and other parts of India, Polynesia, &c. It is used in various articles of domestic economy, besides being an excellent burning oil, (for which it is much admired, giving out neither smoke nor smell when burning, and having a clear bright flame,) it has since had an additional value, and more extended use at home, by the discovery of its capability of being manufactured into candles, rivalling wax or spermaceti, at the same time without being much higher in price than those of tallow. Soap has also been manufactured from it; and it is lavished by the Asiatics, Polynesians, and other intertropical natives, over their persons, and at Tongatabu, and other of the Polynesian islands, is used scented with sandal-wood and odoriferous flowers, giving a delightful fragrance to the flowing tresses and elegant persons of the dark beauties of those fascinating islands. In cold weather, (similar to most of the vegetable oils,) this oil becomes very hard, and requires to be melted before it can be used for burning.
The singular method of making the oil is very simple. The nut having been removed from the shell, is boiled in water for a short period; it is then pounded in a large mortar, taken out, and pressed. The milk, as it is called, is then boiled over a slow fire, when the oil floats on the top, which being skimmed off, and afterwards boiled by itself, two quarts of oil may be procured from fourteen or fifteen cocoa-nuts. When fresh, the oil is used in cookery, and has an excellent flavour; the Singalese anoint their bodies with it after bathing, and invariably use it for the sake of giving a glossy and smooth appearance to the hair, and it is in great requisition by both sexes.
The remains of the cocoa-nut, from which the oil has been extracted, is called by the Singalese Poonak, and the best Poonak is obtained when the oil is extracted by pressure; it is an excellent food for pigs, poultry, &c. This substance is termed by the Tahitans Ota, and by the natives of Tongatabu Efeniu, and they use it also for fattening their pigs, poultry, &c. as also at the other Polynesian islands.
At Tahiti they procure the Morii, or oil from the nuts, by first grating the kernel, then depositing it in the hollow trunk of a tree, or some kind of hollow vessel, which is exposed to the sun during the day. After a few days have elapsed, the grated nut is heaped up in the trough or vessel, leaving a space between the heaps, the oil exuding drains into the hollow spaces, from whence it is collected by the natives into large bamboo canes; (containing each a gallon, or more;) in this way it is sold for shipping, or rather exchanged for axes, cotton, cloth, or rum; but the indolence of the natives prevents its being so important an article of traffic as it might be in the South Seas.
Sometimes the Tahitans, after the oil ceases to collect in the vessel, put the kernel into a bag, and submit it to the action of pressure by a rude lever press; but the oil thus obtained is considered inferior to that procured by the heat of the sun.
The Malabar method of extracting oil, is, by dividing the kernel into two equal parts, which are ranged on shelves made of laths of the Areka palm, or split bamboo, spaces being left between each lath of half an inch in width; under them a charcoal fire is then made, and kept up for about two or three days, in order to dry them. After this process they are exposed to the sun on mats, and when thoroughly dried (then called Koppera) are placed in an oil press, or Siccoor. The Malabars have a caste of oil pressers, called the Waany caste.
At Colombo (island of Ceylon) there is a government steam-engine, which was erected in 1815, for the purpose of extracting the oil from the nut in much larger quantities, and with greater facility than before. Ceylon furnishes an abundance of cocoa-nut oil, much is used in the colony, and a large quantity is also exported to Europe. In Ceylon the average price is from thirteen to fifteen pence per gallon.
There are medicinal properties attributed to different parts of the cocoa-nut tree in Ceylon; the root (the Tumu Haari of the natives of Tahiti) is used by the native doctors, small pieces of it being boiled with dried ginger and jaggery, and the decoction given at stated regular periods, and is considered highly efficacious in remittent and intermittent fevers. When this decoction is used as a gargle, it is mixed with the fresh oil of the nut, and generally affords considerable relief to the patient; and has good effect, it is said, in cases where pustules have formed in the mouth or tonsils. The expressed juice of the leaves, mixed with the fresh oil of the nut, is considered a sovereign remedy in hemorrhoids. The expressed juice of the nut, used as an external application, mixed with new milk, is regarded by the Singalese as a good remedy for ophthalmic complaints.