"A hundred uses for one tree!" replied Fred, in astonishment.
"Yes," said the stranger, "the natives claim that they can rely on the cocoa-palm for a hundred different things. It is sufficient to build, rig, and freight the small vessels of the Maldive Islands. It produces wine, water, oil, sugar, spirits, vinegar, and milk; a species of sago is obtained from the pith of the trunk near the head, and a vegetable like cabbage from the young buds when boiled; the old leaves make huts, fences, baskets, and the like, and the young leaves are yellow and transparent, so that they make pretty lanterns and decorations; the shells of the nuts are made into cups, ladles, spoons, and similar utensils, and, when not wanted for any other purposes, they can be converted into charcoal for cooking food. From the fibres of the leaves brooms can be made, the butts of the stalks make paddles and handles to farming implements, while the fibres of the husks may be converted into ropes, twine, matting, carpets, and mattresses.
"You may think that is all, but it isn't. The tree has many medicinal properties: the natives extract a powerful oil from the bark, which they use in cutaneous diseases; the juice of the flower makes an astringent lotion like alum; a decoction of the root is given in fevers; and the juice of the leaves mixed with some of the oil is used for ophthalmia. Cocoa-nut-oil is the best remedy for the stings of insects, and it is already well known to European and American chemists. The bamboo is said to be one of the most useful trees in the world, but I doubt if it holds a higher place than the cocoa-nut-tree."
Frank wished to know how long the trees lived, and how soon they began to bear fruit.
A YOUNG COCOA-PALM.
"They begin to bear about the seventh year," replied the coffee-planter, "and are in full bearing at twelve years. As long as they live they produce from forty to fifty nuts a year on the average, and they keep it up for seventy or eighty years. They produce their fruit at different times in the year, so that you may see it in all stages of growth, from the blossom up to the nut that is ripe and ready to fall. Look at any of the trees as we ride past them, and see for yourselves."
The boys looked out of the windows of the coach, and verified the statements of their informer. While he was doing so, Frank made a mental calculation something like the following:
"There are said to be 20,000,000 cocoa-nut-trees in Ceylon. Now, if each tree makes forty nuts a year, they have 800,000,000 nuts, and I wonder what they do with them?"