Storia do Mogor 265.23.1

265.23.1

When the nuts have become ripe, the rind hardens outside and the water inside changes into a pulp called coco, which lies inside a hard shell that is called chereta (chiratta), and is like a nut. When the rind has been drawn off, they use it to make ropes and cables. The coco, when out of its husk, has sixteen to twenty thumbs (pollegadas), which European physicians call Nos Indica (Indian nut). From the shells (chereta or chiratta) of these cocos are made dishes (porzulanos), vessels, spoons, handles, rings, rosaries, buckets to draw water, and many curiosities. The substance inside, which has about the thickness of an inch, is used for many dainties, being added to dishes in cooking. An oil is also made and usually applied by the women to their hair, which is their greatest delight. This oil is also employed for many medicinal purposes, such as in burns and ulcers, and an ointment is made with it. It serves for a purge to the lean and irascible, expels bile, and reduces adipose tissue. Usually these trees [234] yield four or five flowers, and in each flower are contained fifteen to twenty cocos. Every year it produces fruit three or four times, according to the strength of the soil ; in Goa I have seen it yield four crops.