WHERE COCOANUTS ARE MONEY.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 May 1921, Page 1

WHERE COCOANUTS ARE MONEY.

(By F. S. Joelson, author of “The Tanganyika Territory.”)

If in the'interior of savage Africa the black man reckons his wealth in the number of his wives or cattle, his brother of the coast belt has another coin in currency—it is none other than the graceful coconut palm. Along the littoral of the Kenya Colony (formerly British East Africa), the Tanganyika Territory and Portuguese East Africa, and all over the islands off the African east coast, are to he found growing in profusion these tall fronded trees.

Hundreds of thousands are systematically cultivated in plantations by Europeans, Arabs, Indians and Africans. Not a village within ten miles of the sea hut lias its cluster of the lank, barestemmed and picturesque palms, and often they seem to flourish at random. Yet each is owned by some swarthy Swahili, who says, “I have ten coconut palms” as an English peasant would say “I have two fine milking cows.” •«.*** The coconut palm, or mnazi, is an investment that yields .so good a rate of interest that the owner of a small grove need take no thought for the morrow; each tree will bring forth its crop of nuts every few months and not infrequently produce more than a couple of hundred during a year. These the tree-owner—for he regards himself in that light, not as the landowner—will either sell on the local market or split and dry in the sun for copra, for which commodity there is .always a ready sale. Copra, the fleshy part of the nut after it has been dried, is the raw material largely used in Europe for the making of margarine, oils, and soap, and the demand of the Western World for these articles assures to the dusky proprietor a right return for his patience in sitting still and doing nothing while the nuts appear.

But he also puts the palm tree to his personal uso in many ways. By tapping the crown he can secure the potent bluish-white palm wine that. rejoices his heart and transports him ofter enough to the verge of frenzy. With the long fronds he roofs his hut and fences in liis, backyard, and of tlie split leaves his womenfolk plait mats and baskets. From the husk, the bulky covering of the nut proper,, rope is made, and even the shells are cut in two and used as cups and ladles.

Of the oil many uses are made. For cooking purposes it is much prized; as a toilet requisite it may serve to anoint the limbs of the fair Fatuma or the smiling Safarani; and in and near townships, where the Negro has discarded his inborn idea that the moon or a fire is the only illuminant necessary after nightfall, it is the substitute for paraffin.